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UNIVERSITY    OF    ILLINOIS    LIBRARY    AT    URBANA-CHAMPAIGN 


L161— O-1096 


JUN  1  6  2005 

UNiVERSITYGFjyJNOjS, 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 

Agricultural  Experiment  Station, 


BULLETIN    NO.    99. 


SOIL   TREATMENT   FOR   THE    LOWER 
ILLINOIS    GLACIATION. 


BY  CYRIL  G.  HOPKINS  AND  J.  E.  READHIMER. 


URBANA,  ILLINOIS,  MARCH,  1905. 


SUMMARY  OF  BULLETIN  No.  99. 

1.  It  is  possible  to  adopt  a  profitable  system  of  farming  that  will  make  the 
soils  of  southern  Illinois  permanently  productive.  Page  563 

2.  Chemical  analyses  show  these  soils  to  be  quite  deficient  in  nitrogen  and 
organic  matter,  very  deficient  in  phosphorus,  only  moderately  well  supplied  with 
potassium,  and  markedly  acid.  Page  563 

3.  The  effects  of  tile  drainage  upon  these  soils  under  certain  conditions  of 
season  and  treatment  are  very  suggestive.  Pages  565,  570,  575 

4.  Very  beneficial  results  with  legumes  are  obtained  from  the  use  of  lime. 

Pages  573,  586 

5.  The  results  obtained  from  experiments  strongly  confirm  the  universal 
experience  as  to  the  very  great  value  of  farm  manure  upon  this  type  of  soil. 

Pages  569,  571,  589 

6.  By  the  use  of  liberal  applications  of  lime  and  thorough  inoculation  with  the 
proper  nitrogen-gathering   bacteria,  clover  can  be'  grown  on  this  type  of  soil  with 
profit.  Pages  571,  573,  587 

7.  While  under  certain  conditions  largely  increased  yields  of  oats  and  of  corn 
have  been  obtained  from  the  use  of  potassium,  it  is  still  questionable  if  commercial 
potassium  can  be  used  with  profit.  Pages  576,  588,  589 

8.  Phosphorus  is  the  limiting  element  in  these  soils  and  must  be  used  liberally 
in  order  to  make  them  permanently  productive.  Pages  568,  577,  585,  592 

9.  A  liberal  use  of  legumes,  to  supply  organic  matter  and  nitrogen,  must  be 
an  essential  part  of  any  practical  and  economical  system  that  ever  becomes  success- 
ful in  the  permanent  improvement  of  southern  Illinois  soils.  Pages  585,  594 

10.  It  is  good  farm  practice  to  remove  large  quantities  of  plant  food  from  the 
soil  provided  as  large  or  larger  amounts  be  returned  when  necessary.  Page  594 

11.  This  bulletin  will  be  sent  free  of  charge  to  any  one  interested  in  Illinois 
agriculture,   upon   request   to   E.    Davenport,    Director   Agricultural   Experiment 
Station,  Urbana,  Illinois;  and  if  so  requested,  the  name  of  the  applicant  will  be 
placed  upon  the  permanent  mailing  list  of  the  Experiment  Station,  so  that  all 
subsequent  bulletins  will  be  sent  to  him  as  they  are  issued. 

Recommendations  Page  594 


SOIL  TREATMENT   FOR   THE    LOWER 
ILLINOIS    GLACIATION. 

BY  CYRIL  G.  HOPKINS,  CHIEF  IN  AGRONOMY  AND  CHEMISTRY,  AND  J.  E.  READ- 
HIMER,  SUPERINTENDENT  OF  SOIL  EXPERIMENT  FIELDS. 

The  chief  reason  for  the  thorough  investigation  of  Illinois  soils  (now 
in  progress)  is  to  bring  about  methods  of  farming  which  shall  at  least 
permanently  maintain  the  present  high  crop  yields  of  our  best  soils 
and  which  shall  increase  the  fertility  of  our  poorer  soils  to  their  maxi- 
mum profitable  productive  capacity.  These  investigations  have  been 
in  progress  only  three  years,  but  results  are  rapidly  being  obtained 
which  are  certainly  of  very  great  value  to  Illinois  agriculture,  and  it  is 
believed  that  these  results  should  be  promptly  reported  to  the  farmers 
and  land  owners  of  the  state,  even  though  final  conclusions  cannot  as 
yet  be  drawn  on  all  questions  involved. 

All  of  the  most  important  soils  are  already  being  investigated,  and 
the  plans  adopted  and  now  in  operation  include  a  detail  soil  survey  of 
the  entire  state  and  a  thorough  investigation  of  every  type  of  soil  found, 
by  chemical  and  physical  analysis ,  by  exact  pot  culture  experiments 
under  controlled  conditions,  and  so  far  as  necessary  by  field  experiments 
conducted  in  different  sections  of  the  state  and  under  actual  field  con- 
ditions. 

Among  the  most  important  results  already  obtained  are  those  from 
the  University  soil  experiment  fields  located  in  different  parts  of  southern 
Illinois,  especially  on  the  common  prairie  soil  in  the  Lower  Illinois 
Glaciation,  the  oldest  glaciated  area  in  the  state.  This  great  area  of 
agricultural  land  of  depleted  fertility  includes  the  counties  of  Fayette, 
Effingham,  Jasper,  Marion,  Clay,  Richland,  Washington,  Jefferson, 
Wayne,  Edwards,  Perry,  Franklin,  and  Hamilton,  and  parts  of  as  many 
more  surrounding  counties.  The  principal  type  of  soil  in  this  area  is  a 
gray  silt  loam.  It  is  not  strictly  a  clay  soil,  although  it  is  quite  commonly 
spoken  of  as  "clay,"  sometimes  as  "white  clay."  Silt  consists  of  soil 
particles  smaller  than  sand,  and  impalpable,  but  it  is  not  sticky,  plastic 
clay. 

The  chemical  composition  of  this  gray  silt  loam  of  the  Lower  Illinois 
Glaciation,  as  given  on  page  20  of  Circular  No.  68  (a  copy  of  which 
can  be  obtained  free  of  charge  upon  request  to  the  Illinois  Experiment 
Station,  Urbana,  Illinois),  shows  this  soil  to  be  only  moderately  well 
supplied  with  potassium,  quite  deficient  in  nitrogen  and  organic  matter, 
exceedingly  deficient  in  phosphorus,  and  markedly  acid. 

563 


564  BULLETIN  Xo.  99.  [Murclt, 

Four  University  soil  experiment  fields  are  located  upon  this  type  of 
soil: 

(1)  The  Edgewood  Field,  one  mile  northwest  of  Edgewood,  Effing- 
ham  County,  on  the  farm  of  Mr.  Samuel  Bartley. 

(2)  The  Odin  Field,  one  mile  southwest  of  Odin,  Marion  County, 
on  the  farm  of  Col.  N.  B.  Morrison. 

(3)  The  DuBois  Field,  one  and  one-half  miles  northwest  of  DuBois 
(Bois  Station),  Washington  County,  on  the  farm  of  Mr.  A.  A.  Hinkley. 

(4)  The  Cutler  Field,  five  miles  northwest  of  Cutler,  Perry  County, 
on  the  farm  of  Mr.  W.  E.  Braden. 

The  Edgewood  field  lies  beside  the  Baltimore  &  Ohio  Southwestern 
Railroad  and  the  Odin  field  beside  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad.  Either 
of  these  fields  can  be  reached  by  a  twenty  minutes'  walk  from  the  station, 
along  the  railroad. 

The  DuBois  field  contains  about  three  acres  (aside  from  co-operative 
experiments),  and  the  three  other  fields  about  fifteen  acres  each,  includ- 
ing the  exact,  experiment  plots,  division  strips,  and  borders. 

THE  EDGEWOOD  FIELD. 

The  Edgewood  field  consists  of  three  parts,  known  as  the  West 
Field,  the  East  Field,  and  the  North  Field. 

THE  WEST  FIELD  AT  EDGEWOOD. — The  west  field  contains  two  series 
of  seven  plots  each,  one  series  (plots  101  to  107),  being  not  tile-drained, 
and  the  other  series  (plots  201  to  207),  being  tile-drained.  Aside  from 
the  drainage,  these  two  series  of  plots  are  treated  and  cropped  alike. 
Experiments  on  this  field  were  begun  in  1896,  the  tile  having  been  laid 
in  the  spring  of  that  year.  Three  strings  of  tile  were  laid  across  all  the 
plots  in  the  200  series,  at  a  distance  of  50  feet  apart.  Plot  101  was 
known  to  be  somewhat  better  land  than  the  average  of  the  field,  because 
of  some  surface  wash  which  it  once  received  from  adjoining  land.  The 
original  experiments  were  planned  by  Dean  Davenport,  and  they  in- 
cluded the  work  with  tile  drainage  and  also  the  green  manure  experi- 
ments with  cow  peas  on  plot  1  and  buckwheat  on  plot  2,  and  the  sub- 
soiling  on  plot  7.  After  two  or  three  years  the  management  of  the  field 
was  turned  over  to  Professor  Holden,  who  had  the  sodium  nitrate 
applied  in  1899.  The  authors  of  this  bulletin  are  responsible  for  the 
management  of  the  field  since  1900,  including  the  plan  of  soil  treatment 
adopted  in  1901  and  applied  for  the  1902  crop. 

This  field  was  originally  laid  out  in  eight  plots,  with  no  division 
strips  between  the  plots,  and  this  arrangement  was  continued  till  the 
fall  of  1901,  when  the  number  of  plots  was  reduced  to  seven,  with  half- 
rod  division  strips  between  the  plots.  The  yields  reoorted  in  Table  1 
are  all  given  for  the  plot  boundaries  as  now  fixed,  computations  having 


1905.]    SOIL  TREATMENT  FOR  THE  LOWER  ILLINOIS  GLACIATION.        565 

been  made,  where  necessary,  from  the  old  plot  yields.  Thus,  plot  1  is 
identical  in  both  systems,  no  computations  being  required;  but  the 
present  plot  2  consists  of  three-fourths  of  the  former  plot  2  and  one- 
fourth  of  the  former  plot  3,  and  the  yields  are  computed  accordingly. 
A  careful  study  of  the  two  systems  of  plotting  and  of  the  actual  and 
computed  yields  convinces  us  that  no  appreciable  inaccuracy  is  intro- 
duced by  this  rearrangement,  and  it  is  a  decided  advantage,  in  that  it 
provides  for  half-rod  divisions  between  the  plots,  thus  guarding  against 
the  treatment  of  one  plot  being  allowed  to  affect  the  crop  yields  on  an 
adjoining  plot,  and  also  making  it  possible  to  have  the  records  of  each 
plot  continuous  from  the  beginning,  in  1896,  up  to  the  present  time. 
Corn,  oats,  and  legumes  have  been  grown  on  this  field  as  the  principal 
crops  during  the  past  nine  years,  and  hereafter  a  three-year  rotation  is 
to  be  practiced  on  the  field  as  follows: 

First  year,  corn. 

Second  year,  oats. 

Third  year,  legume. 

On  certain  plots,  in  addition  to  the  regular  legume  grown  in  the 
third  year  of  the  rotation,  a  legume* catch  crop  is  grown  as  often  as 
possible,  such  as  cow  peas  seeded  in  the  corn  when  it  is  laid  by.  Lime 
(as  ground  limestone,  unburned),  phosphorus  (as  steamed  bone  meal), 
and  potassium  (as  potassium  chlorid  or  sulfate),  and  manure,  are 
applied  to  plots  as  indicated.  Table  1  shows  the  different  kinds  of 
treatment  applied  and  the  crop  yields  obtained  from  the  west  field  at 
Edge  wood  for  nine  years,  1896  to  1904,  inclusive. 

During  the  nine  years,  Mr.  Samuel  Bartley  has  had  immediate  charge 
of  the  field  work.  He  has  continually  reported  that  there  is  a  good  flow 
of  water  from  the  tile  outlet  whenever  the  ground  is  saturated  and  also 
that,  as  a  general  rule,  the  soil  on  the  tile-drained  plots  works  more 
easily  and  keeps  in  better  condition  than  that  on  the  undrained  plots. 
As  a  rule,  the  tile-drained  land  has  produced  larger  yields  than  the 
undrained  land,  plot  101  being  excepted  for  reasons  mentioned  above. 

In  1896  very  satisfactory  weather  conditions  obtained  and  an  excel- 
lent crop  of  com  was  secured,  especially  on  the  drained  land.  Some 
benefit  is  strongly  indicated  from  subsoiling  on  land  not  tile-drained. 

In  1897,  owing  to  drought  and  chinch  bugs,  the  corn  crop  was  a 
failure. 

In  1898  a  good  crop  of  cow  peas  was  grown,  although  very  little 
effect  is  seen  from  drainage  or  from  the  previous  subsoiling. 

In  1899  the  corn  was  markedly  better  on  the  tile-drained  land, 
although  the  crop  was  poor.  Nitrate  of  soda  (sodium  nitrate)  applied 
to  plots  5  and  6  at  the  rate  of  300  pounds  per  acre,  and  to  plot  7  at  the 
rate  of  200  pounds  per  acre,  produced  no  apparent  effect  on  yields  of  corn. 
(Nitrate  of  soda  costs  about  $2.50  per  hundred  pounds.) 


566 


BULLETIN  No.  99. 


Marr1i. 


TABLE  J.  —  CROP  YIELDS  IN  SOIL  EXPERIMENTS.     EDGEWOOD  WEST  FIELD. 


Plot 
No. 

Gray  silt  loam  prairie, 
Lower  Illinois  Glaciation. 

Series  100. 
Not  drained. 

Series  200. 
Tile  draineU. 

Soil  treatment  applied. 

1896 — Corn  bushels  per  acre. 


1 

None  (cowpeas  turned  under)  

Cowpeas. 

Cowpeas. 

2 
3 

None  (buckwheat  turned  under)  
None  

Buckwheat. 
34.9 

Buckwheat. 
37.7 

4 

None 

42.5 

54.3 

5 

None 

41.7 

51.2 

6 

None  

37.0 

50.9 

7 

Subsoiled  . 

46.5 

54.0 

1897 — Corn,  bushels  per  acre. 


1 

Green  manured 

(1896)  

4.3 

2.1 

2 

Green  manured 

(1896)  . 

1.9 

1  .4 

3 

None 

3.7 

3.7 

4 

None  

8.5 

8.1 

5 

None  

11.4 

15.9 

6 

None  

10.2 

12.9 

7 

None  .        .  .  .    . 

6.4 

8.7 

1898— Cowpeas,  bushels  per  acre 


1 

2 
3 

None  (cowpeas  turned  under)  
None  (buckwheat  turned  under)  
None  

Cowpeas. 
Buckwheat. 
18.8 

Cowpeas. 
Buckwheat. 
19.6 

4 

None  .                      

21.5 

22.9 

5 

None  .                        

22.3 

26.3 

6 

None  . 

14.6 

22.5 

7 

None  .  . 

14.9 

17.3 

1899 — Bushels  corn  per  acre. 


1 

Green  manured 

(1898)  . 

25  6 

20  7 

2 
3 

Green  manured 
None  . 

(1898)  

15.4 
11.4 

16.4 
16.5 

4 

None  . 

12.3 

26  0 

5 

Sodium  nitrate 

11.3 

25  3 

6 

Sodium  nitrate 

12  9 

22  S 

7 

Sodium  nitrate  . 

16.3 

23.5 

1900 — Oats,  bushels  per  acre. 


1 

2 
3 

4 
5 
6 

7 

None  ...          

34.0 
33.0 
30.0 
36.0 
40.0 
36.0 
3G.O 

22  0 
38.5 
30.0 
36.5 
36.0 
31.5 
36.0 

None  . 

None  . 

None 

None  

None  

None  

1901  —  Clover,  tons  per  acre 

1 

2 
3 

4 
5 

6 

7 

None  

.74 
.16 
.04 
.07 
.38 
.27 
.24 

.28 
.14 
.05 
.09 
1.04 
.67 
.58 

None  

None  

None  

None  

None  . 

None  . 

1905.)    SOIL  TREATMENT  FOR  THE  LOWER  ILLINOIS  GLACIATION.        567 


TABLE  1. — CONTINUED. — CROP  YIELDS  IN  SOIL  EXPERIMENTS. 

FIELD. 


EDGEVVOOD  WEST 


Soil 
plot 

No. 


Gray  silt  loam  prairie, 
Lower  Illinois  Glaciation. 


Soil  treatment  applied. 


Series  100. 
Not  drained. 


Series  200. 
Tile  drained. 


1902 — Corn,  bushels  per  acre 


1  None 11.3 

2  None 8.1 

3  Legume 9.3 

4  Legume,  lime 11.3 

5  Legume,  lime,  phosphorus 14:9 

6  Legume,  lime,  phosphorus,  potassium    ..  17.1 

7  Lime,  phosphorus,  potassium . .  21 . 5 

1903 — Oats,  bushels  per  acre. 

1  None 12.5 

2  None 10.9 

3  Legume '  12.2 

4  Legume,  lime 21 . 2 

5  Legume,  lime,  phosphorus 31.6 

6  Legume,  lime,  phosphorus,  potassium    .  .  24 . 4 

7  Lime,  phosphorus,  potassium.  .  20.6 

1904 — Corn,  bushels  per  acre. 

1  Manure 60.4 

2  Manure 52.0 

3  Legume 29.0 

4  Legume,  lime 40 . 9 

5  Legume,  lime,  phosphorus 43.0 

6  Legume,  lime,  phosphorus,  potassium    .  .  52.5 

7  Lime,  phosphorus,  potassium.  .  52.6 


14.1 
16.7 
15.1 
24.9 
33.7 
32.1 
33.2 


6.6 

9.4 

7.2 

16.2 

35.3 

37.5 

35.0 


59.6 
58.0 
27.8 
44.4 
59.2 
62.1 
61.3 


In  1900  a  good  crop  of  oats  was  obtained,  but  there  are  no  differences 
of  special  interest  among  the  yields  from  the  different  plots,  except, 
possibly,  the  discordant  results  from  plots  1  and  2,  as  compared  with 
the  yields  of  corn  for  the  previous  year. 

In  1901  the  clover,  which  had  been  seeded  with  the  oats  in  1900, 
produced  a  very  poor  crop,  but  quite  a  marked  increase  in  yield  occurred 
on  plots  5,  6  and  7,  which  had  been  treated  with  sodium  nitrate  two 
years  previous.  These  results  suggested  to  the  writers  the  probable 
acidity  of  this  type  of  soil.  The  nitrogen  applied  in  the  sodium  nitrate 
was  much  less  in  amount  than  the  nitrogen  removed  in  the  crops  grown 
in  1899  and  1900,  and  it  seemed  very  improbable  that  sufficient  nitrogen 
should  remain  in  the  soil  to  affect  a  third  crop,  especially  as  it  had  produced 
no  apparent  effect  upon  either  the  corn  or  oats,  although  applied  in  per- 
fectly soluble  form. 

Sodium  nitrate  contains  50  percent  more  sodium  than  nitrogen. 
Sodium  is  a  strongly  alkaline  element,  and  most  of  this  element  would  be 


568  BULLETIN  No.  99.  [March, 

left  in  the  soil  when  the  nitrogen  was  removed  by  crops.  This  would 
unite  with  the  soil  acids,  and  in  places  may  have  been  sufficient  to  correct 
the  soil  acidity  to  the  depth  of  a  few  inches,  thus  making  a  much  more 
suitable  condition  for  the  growth  and  multiplication  of  the  nitrogen- 
gathering  bacteria  on  the  clover  roots,  in  case  there  were  any  brought 
with  the  clover  seed  or  any  already  present  in  the  soil.  Subsequent 
experiments  with  the  use  of  lime  on  this  soil  type  (referred  to  in  the 
following  pages)  strongly  confirms  this  theory  as  to  the  effect  produced 
by  the  sodium.  (In  addition  to  this,  sodium  nitrate  is  a  soluble  mineral 
salt  which  possesses  some  corrosive  power  by  which  the  mineral  elements 
of  plant  food,  phosphorus  and  potassium,  might  be  liberated  from  the 
soil  to  some  extent.) 

It  should  be  understood  that  the  legume  treatment  for  1902  was 
cow  peas  seeded  in  the  corn  that  season.  Of  course,  they  could  not  be 
expected  to  benefit  the  1902  corn  crop.  The  season  was  very  dry  and 
the  cow  peas  made  but  little  growth,  consequently  they  produced  little, 
if  any,  effect  upon  the  oat  crop  in  1903.  One  marked  effect  from  soil 
treatment  in  the  1902  crop  is  the  higher  yield  produced  by  phosphorus 
on  plot  5  as  compared  with  plot  4,  which  was  treated  the  same  as  plot 
5,  except  for  the  phosphorus.  Phosphorus  made  an  average  gain  of 
4.6  bushels  of  corn  on  the  undrained  land,  and  a  gain  of'  13.7  bushels 
on  the  tile-drained  land.  A  still  more  striking  effect  was  produced  by 
the  tile  drainage.  On  several  plots  the  tile-drained  land  produced  twice 
as  much  as  the  undrained  land,  the  maximum  increase  being  from  14.9 
to  33.7,  or  a  gain  of  18.8  bushels,  on  plot  5. 

The  results  obtained  with  oats  in  1903  agree  with  the  previous  year's 
work  in  showing  a  marked  increase  by  phosphorus,  this  gain  amounting 
to  10.4  bushels  of  oats  on  the  undrained  land,  and  19.1  bushels  on  the 
drained  land.  All  tile-drained  plots  to  which  phosphorus  had  been 
applied  yielded  larger  crops  than  the  corresponding  undrained  plots, 
but  it  is  noticeable  that  all  plots  not  receiving  phosphorus  produced 
smaller  yields  on  the  tile-drained  land  than  on  undrained  land.  There 
seems  to  be  no  explanation  for  this,  unless  it  is  possibly  in  the  fact  that 
these  tile-drained  plots  produced  the  larger  yields  of  1902  and  conse- 
quently retained  smaller  amounts  of  available  plant  food  for  the  1903 
crop. 

In  order  to  bring  the  rotation  on  the  west  field  into  line  with  the 
general  system  adopted  for  the  three  Edgewood  fields,  corn  was  again 
grown  in  this  field  in  1904,  oats  being  grown  upon  the  north  field  and  a 
regular  legume  crop  upon  the  east  field,  thus  allowing  each  of  the  three 
crops  to  be  grown  every  year. 

The  season  of  1904  was  a  fairly  satisfactory  one  for  the  corn  crop. 
Even  with  some  allowance  for  the  fact  that  plot  101  is  somewhat  better 
land  than  the  average  of  the  field,  as  mentioned  above  and  as  indicated 


1905.]    SOIL  TREATMENT  FOR  THE  LOWER  ILLINOIS  GLACIATION.        569 

by  every  year's  results,  the  results  obtained  from  the  manure  plots* 
strongly  confirm  the  universal  experience  as  to  the  very  great  value  of 
farm  manure  upon  this  type  of  soil,  although  slightly  better  results 
were  obtained  where  both  phosphorus  and  potassium  were  applied, 
especially  on  tile-drained  land.  Aside  from  this  most  satisfactory  result 
produced  by  the  farm  manure,  there  are  three  other  results  of  much 
importance:  (1)  Linre  (as  ground  limestone)  added  to  the  legume 
treatment  increased  the  yield  by  11.9  bushels  on  the  undrained  land 
and  by  16.6  bushels  per  acre  on  the  tile-drained  land.f  (2)  Phosphorus 
produced  an  increase  of  14.8  bushels  on  the  tile-drained  land,  although 
only  2.1  bushels  gain  was  produced  by  phosphorus  on  undrained  land. 
(3)  On  undrained  land  potassium  produced  a  gain  of  9.5  bushels  when 
used  in  connection  with  lime  and  phosphorus,  although  only  2  to  3 
bushels  gain  was  produced  by  potassium  on  the  corresponding  tile-drained 
plots.  But  perhaps  the  most  important  result  obtained  in  1904  is  the 
marked  effect  of  tile  drainage  upon  this  type  of  soil  under  certain  condi- 
tions of  treatment.  If  we  disregard  plot  101,  tile  drainage  produced  an 
appreciable  gain  in  every  case,  excepting  with  legume  treatment  only 
on  plot  3.  (It  may  be  stated  here  that  the  legume  treatment  on  plot  3 
previous  to  1904  consisted  of  very  poor  catch  crops  of  cow  peas  in  1902 
and  1903,  whose  effect  upon  the  soil  would  be  very  slight.  On  plots 
4,  5,  and  6,  the  legume  catch  crops  have  made  better  growth.)  By  far 
the  most  marked  effect  of  tile  drainage  was  on  plot  5  (legume,  lime, 
phosphorus),  where  a  gain  of  16.2  bushels  of  corn  per  acre  was  produced 
by  the  tile  drainage.  While  final  conclusions  ought  not  to  be  drawn  as 
yet,  data  are  fast  accumulating  which  tend  to  show  that  one  of  the 
important  effects  of  tile  drainage  is  to  render  more  accessible  to  the 
plant  the  immense  store  of  potassium  existing  in  the  subsoil.  Where 
we  have  corrected  the  acid  in  the  soil  with  ground  limestone  so  that 
legumes  grow  better  (the  bacteria  which  live  in  the  tubercles  on  the 

*NOTE. — In  the  modified  plan  of  the  Edgewood  experiments  it  was  designed 
to  reserve  plot  1  (in  each  series)  as  a  check  plot,  to  which  no  special  treatment 
should  be  applied,  while  plot  2  was  to  receive  six  tons  of  farm  manure  per  acre 
every  three  years  to  be  applied  for  the  corn  crop.  (Our  standard  rate  of  applying 
farm  manure  on  all  regular  soil  experiment  fields  is  two  tons  per  acre  per  annum, 
all  applied  in  one  year  in  the  rotation,  usually  preceding  a  corn  crop.)  Through  a 
misunderstanding,  manure  was  applied  to  plot  1  as  well  as  to  plot  2  in  each  series 
on  the  west  field  at  Edgewood  in  the  spring  of  1904,  and  the  rate  of  application  was 
12  tons  per  acre  instead  of  6  tons.  Because  of  this,  plot  3  is  taken  as  the  check 
plot,  this  plot  having  received  no  special  treatment,  excepting  that  in  1902  and 

1903  it  grew  very  poor  catch  crops  of  cow  peas,  which  were  turned  under,  and  in 

1904  a  fair  catch  crop  of  cow  peas  which,  however,  were  pulled  and  removed  from 
the  land.     Hereafter  no  special  treatment  will  be  applied  to  103  or  203. 

fAttention  is  called  to  the  fact,  however,  that  plot  3  usually  gave  somewhat 
smaller  yields  than  plot  4  in  previous  years,  even  before  lime  was  applied. 


570  BULLETIN  No.  99.  [March, 

roots  of  the  legumes  and  get  nitrogen  from  the  air  do  not  thrive  in  acid 
soils),  and  have  then  grown  legume  crops  and  catch  crops,  and  have 
also  applied  phosphorus,  as  on  plot  105,  we  have  thus  made  provision 
for  all  plant  food  except  potassium,  but  still  the  crop  produced  in  1904 
(plot  105)  was  only  43  bushels  of  corn  per  acre.  When  potassium  was 
added  (plot  106)  the  yield  was  increased  to  52.5  bushels,  but  where 
tile  drainage  was  put  in  (plot  205)  the  yield  was  increased  from  43  to 
59.2  bushels  without  applying  potassium,  thus  indicating  that  tile 
drainage  not  only  enables  the  crop  to  obtain  a  good  supply  of  potassium 
from  the  abundant  store  which  is  known  to  exist  n  the  subsoil,  but 
that  still  other  benefits  were  produced  by  the  tile  drainage,  for  even 
where  potassium  was  applied  (plots  6  and  7)  the  tile-drained  plots  yielded 
nearly  10  bushels  more  than  the  corresponding  undrained  plots.  The 
fact  that  every  plot  to  which  phosphorus  has  been  applied  (5,  6,  and  7) 
has  given  a  larger  yield  on  tile-drained  land  during  the  entire  three  years, 
is  certainly  strong  evidence  in  favor  of  tile  drainage.  To  be  sure,  the 
tile  may  produce  but  little  effect  during  dry  seasons,  when  they  are  not 
needed  to  remove  surplus  water,  or  even  during  extremely  wet  seasons, 
when  heavy  rains  are  so  frequent  that  even  the  tile-drained  land  remains 
saturated  much  of  the  time. 

THE  EAST  FIELD  AT  EDGEWOOD. — This  field  consists  of  two  series 
(300  and  400),  of  10  plots  each.  A  three-year  rotation  of  corn,  oats, 
and  clover  has  been  grown  on  this  field  during  the  past  three  years. 
The  entire  field  is  tile-drained.  Commercial  nitrogen  in  the  form  of 
dried  blood  has  been  used  on  certain  plots,  as  indicated  in  the  table. 
Phosphorus  and  potassium  were  applied  in  the  same  forms  as  used  on  the 
west  field.  The  limed  plots  on  series  300  received  ground  limestone, 
while  those  of  the  400  series  received  fresh  slaked  lime. 

The  nitrogen,  phosphorus  and  potassium  were  applied  previous  to  the 
1902  corn  crop,  but  no  lime  was  applied  till  after  that  crop  had  been 
harvested.  Some  previous  differences  were  known  to  exist  among  the 
plots  on  this  field,  and  these  differences  show  very  distinctly  in  the  first 
corn  crop.  Plots  1  and  2  in  each  series  had  been  given  heavy  applica- 
tions of  farm  manure  some  years  previous  to  1902.  By  using  plot  1  as 
a  check  plot  and  plot  2  for  lime  only,  we  avoid  getting  any  exaggerated 
results  from  the  other  kinds  of  soil  treatment,  and,  incidentally,  have 
obtained  some  data  relating  to  the  lasting  effect  of  farm  manure. 

Table  2  gives  the  yields  of  corn,  oats,  and  clover  from  all  of  the 
plots  on  this  field  for  three  years.  It  will  be  noted  that  in  1903  the 
two  series  were  harvested  as  one. 


1DU5.]      SOIL  TltEATMENT  FOH  THE  LOWER  ILLINOIS  GLACIATION.  571 


TABLE  2. — CROP  YIELDS  IN  SOIL  EXPERIMENTS.     EDGEWOOD  EAST  FIELD. 


Soil 

Gray  silt  loam  prairie, 
Lower  Illinois  Glaciation 

1902  Corn,  bu. 

1903 

1904  Clover,  tons. 

plot 

Oats,  bu. 

No. 

Soil  treatment  applied. 

Series 
300. 

Series 
400. 

average. 

Series 
300. 

Series 
400. 

1 

None  

40.9 

44.3 

33.9 

1.13 

2.33 

2 

Lime.  . 

34  8 

47  7 

40.6 

1.70 

2.18 

3 

Lime,  nitrogen  

20.9 

23.1 

39.1 

1.68 

2.01 

4 

Lime,  phosphorus  

25.7 

22.8 

42.8 

1.93 

2.00 

5 

Lime,  potassium   

22.1 

32.4 

38.3 

1.55 

2.01 

6 

Lime,  nitrogen,  phos.  .  .  . 

21.6 

25.2 

41.1 

2.36 

2.91 

7 

Lime,  nitrogen,  potass.  .  . 

17.7 

13.6 

37.2 

2.17 

2.61 

8 

Lime,  phos.,  potassium.  .  . 

30.3 

17.7 

48.1 

2.69 

2.52 

9 

Lime,  nit.,  phos.,  potass.  . 

27.2 

17.5 

46.7 

2.67 

2.74 

10 

Nit.,  phos.,  potass.. 

27.9 

15.9 

49.1 

1.88 

2.39 

No  conclusions  are  to  be  drawn  from  the  1902  corn  crop,  aside  from 
the  fact  that  a  marked  effect  was  produced  on  plots  1  and  2,  in  each 
series,  owing  to  the  previous  heavy  application  of  farm  manure  already 
referred  to.  The  crop  suffered  from  a  severe  wind  storm,  and  it  was 
much  injured  by  chinch  bugs,  especially  on  plots  7  to  10,  in  the  400 
series. 

The  results  obtained  from  the  oat  crop  in  1903  show  that  the  effect 
of  the  farm  manure  on  plots  1  and  2  had  been  equaled  or  exceeded  by  the 
applications  made  to  several  other  plots,  especially  where  phosphorus 
was  included  in  the  treatment.  Indeed,  the  crop  yields  for  1903  and 
1904  are  better  appreciated  when  we  bear  in  mind  that  in  1902  plots 
1  and  2  produced  a  yield  of  corn  15  bushels  higher  than  the  yield  of 
any  other  plot,  as  an  average  of  both  series,  whereas  in  1903  the  oat 
crop  on  the  check  plot  (No.  1)  is  13  to  15  bushels  lower  than  on  the 
highest  yielding  plots  (8,  9  and  10). 

The  results  from  the  clover  crop  in  1904  are  exceedingly  interesting 
and  valuable,  even  though  some  of  the  data  are  confusing  and  many 
questions  are  not  fully  settled.  Of  greatest  importance,  perhaps,  is  the 
simple  fact  that  more  than  two  and  one-half  tons  per  acre  of  well  cured 
pure  red  clover  hay  were  produced  on  some  of  these  plots  on  soil  which 
is  very  generally  considered  incapable  of  growing  clover  successfully. 
Indeed,  many  farmers  who  visited  this  experiment  field  expressed  great 
surprise  at  seeing  such  a  crop  of  clover,  stating  that  they  had  never 
before  seen  clover  grown  so  successfully  on  this  type  of  soil.  Aside 
from  the  special  treatment  given  the  different  plots,  it  should  be  remem- 
bered that  all  of  these  plots  are  well  tile-drained  and  that  the  clover  was 
well  inoculated  with  the  proper  nitrogen-gathering  bacteria,  by  methods 
already  explained  in  Bulletin  No.  94,  "Nitrogen  Bacteria  and  Legumes," 
a  copy  of  which  will  be  sent  to  any  one'free  of  charge,  upon  application. 


572  BULLETIN  No.  99.  [March, 

The  individual  plot  yields  indicate  some  things,  but  the  single  year's 
results  do  not  justify  definite  conclusions.  It  will  be  observed,  for 
example,  that  the  400  series  yielded  more  than  the  300  series,  on  most 
plots.  One  might  suppose  that  this  is  due  to  the  fact  that  burned  lime 
was  applied  to  the  400  series,  while  ground  limestone  was  used  on  the 
300  series;  but  this  difference  is  marked  on  the  unlimed  plots  (1  and  10), 
as  well  as  on  most  of  the  limed  plots.  Plot  401,  to  which  neither  lime 
nor  plant  food  had  been  applied,  yielded  2.33  tons,  as  against  1.13  tons 
on  plot  301.  The  only  explanation  suggested  for  this  difference  is  the 
fact  that  plot  401  is  nearest  to  the  barnyard  and  probably  has  received 
more  farm  manure  than  any  other  plot  in  the  field.  The  high  yield  on 
plot  402  may  be  due  in  part  at  least  to  the  same  reason.  No  explana- 
tion is  offered  for  the  difference  between  plots  310  and  410,  as  Mr.  Bart- 
ley,  who  has  owned  and  farmed  this  land  for  more  than  thirty  years, 
is  sure  that  no  manure  has  been  applied  to  any  part  of  this  field,  aside 
from  the  first  two  or  three  plots  in  each  series. 

It  would  be  expected  that  burned  lime  would  produce  a  greater 
increase  in  the  crops  for  the  first  year  or  two  than  would  be  produced 
by  the  ground  limestone,  more  especially  where  the  mineral  elements, 
phosphorus  and  potassium,  are  not  applied,  for  the  reason  that  ground 
limestone  produces  practically  no  effect  except  to  correct  the  acidity 
of  the  soil  and  thus  encourage  the  multiplication  and  activity  of  the 
nitrogen-gathering  bacteria,  while  the  burned  lime  not  only  produces 
this  same  effect,  but  it  also  acts  as  a  soil  stimulant,  or  soil  destroyer, 
attacking  and  destroying  the  organic  matter  and  decomposing  the 
mineral  constituents,  and  thus  liberating  plant  food  from  the  soil.  The 
use  of  ground  limestone  to  correct  acidity  and  increase  the  fixation  of 
atmospheric  nitrogen  is  certainly  altogether  legitimate  and  commend- 
able, but  to  use  burned  lime  to  force  the  soil  to  give  up  plant  food  more 
rapidly  than  it  would  otherwise  do,  thus  producing  an  increase  in  the 
first  few  crops,  but  ultimately  leaving  the  soil  more  impoverished  than 
before  the  lime  was  applied,  is  not  thought  to  be  advisable  or  profit- 
able in  the  long  run,  unless  the  soil  contains  comparatively  large  stores 
of  unavailable  plant  food  and  abundant  organic  matter,  which  is  cer- 
tainly not  the  case  with  this  soil.  It  is  perhaps  worthy  of  notice  that 
where  lime,  phosphorus,  and  potassium  were  all  applied  (plots  8  and  9), 
the  yield  of  clover  was  about  the  same  in  each  series,  averaging  slightly 
higher  with  the  ground  limestone;  but  where  one  or  both  of  these 
elements  were  omitted,  the  yield  was  then  larger  where  burned  lime  was 
used. 

The  north  field  at  Edgewood  is  devoted  to  experiments  to  determine 
the  comparative  agricultural  value  of  steamed  bone  meal  and  ground 
rock  phosphate,  applied  in  different  amounts;  and  the  east  field  and  the 
north  field  combine  experiments  to  determine  the  amounts  of  lime  or 


1905.]    SOIL  TEEATMENT  FOR  THE  LOWER  ILLINOIS  GLACIATIOX.       573 

ground  limestone  which  can  be  used  with  greatest  profit  on  this  soil. 
From  the  analysis  of  the  soil  and  the  results  thus  far  obtained  from 
field  experiments,  we  recommend  at  least  two  tons  to  the  acre  of  ground 
limestone.  Larger  applications  will  do  no  harm,  but  will  probably 
produce  quicker  results  and  will  certainly  last  longer.  Probably  it  will 
be  necessary  to  continue  to  apply  ground  limestone  at  the  rate  of  a  ton 
to  the  acre  every  five  or  six  years,  but  further  results  are  necessary  to 
determine  this  point.  The  north  field  at  Edgewood  was  started  more 
recently  than  the  other  fields,  and  the  data  thus  far  obtained  are  not 
sufficient  to  justify  their  discussion  at  this  time. 

Plate  1  shows  the  red  clover  growing  upon  plot  304,  to  which  ground 
limestone  and  steamed  bone  meal  have  been  applied,  which  produced 
about  two  tons  of  clover  hay  to  the  acre. 

Plate  2  shows  the  effect  of  lime  upon  the  alfalfa  growing  upon  one 
of  the  border  strips  of  the  Edgewood  field,  lime  having  been  applied 
on  the  right,  and  no  lime  on  the  left.  Similar  results,  showing  the  very 
marked  benefit  of  lime  or  ground  limestone  upon  alfalfa  in  several  other 
places  and  also  upon  last  spring's  seeding  of  red  clover  on  the  north  field, 
are  sufficient  to  fully  demonstrate  the  importance  of  using  some  form 
of  lime  for  growing  clover  on  this  type  of  soil.  (See,  also,  illustrations 
from  DuBois  field.) 


PLATE  1. — CLOVER  CROP  WITH  LIME  AND  PHOSPHORUS  TREATMENT. 
SOIL  EXPERIMENT  FIELD,  1904. 


EDGEWOOD 


574 


BULLETIN  No.  09. 


f  March , 


I 


a 

g  00 


1905.]    SOIL  TREATMENT  FOB  THE  LOWER  ILLINOIS  GLACIATION.        575 

THE  ODIN  FIELD. 

The  Odin  Soil  Experiment  Field  is  located  on  the  west  side  of  the 
Illinois  Central  Railroad,  about  one  mile  southwest  of  Odin,  Marion 
County,  on  the  farm  of  Col.  N.  B.  Morrison.  The  original  field  contains 
40  fifth-acre  plots,  arranged  in  four  series  (100  to  400),  of  10  plots  each, 
one-half  of  each  series  (plots  1  to  5)  is  not  drained,  while  the  other  half 
(plots  6  to  10)  is  tile-drained.  Plots  1  and  2,  especially  in  series  300 
and  400,  are  better  land  than  the  average,  being  on  the  lower  side  of  the 
field.  All  the  remaining  plots  are  believed  to  be  fairly  uniform. 

A  four-year  rotation  is  being  followed  on  the  field: 

First  year,  corn. 

Second  year,  oats. 

Third  year,  wheat. 

Fourth  year,  cow  peas. 

In  1902  corn  was  grown  in  place  of  wheat  in  series  300.  On  plots 
1  and  6  no  treatment  is  applied.  On  all  other  plots  cow  peas  are  grown 
as  a  catch  crop,  in  the  corn,  after  the  oats,  and  after  the  wheat,  these 
catch  crops  always  being  turned  under.  During  the  first  rotation  (four 
years),  the  full  crop  of  cow  peas  is  also  being  turned  under  on  these  plots. 
Lime,  phosphorus,  and  potassium  are  applied  as  indicated  in  Table  3. 

In  1902  very  poor  crops  were  produced,  drouth,  chinch  bugs,  and 
poor  soil  combining  to  produce  this  effect.  Some  slight  improvement 
is  shown  where  phosphorus  was  applied,  and  where  corn  was  grown  the 
improvement  with  both  phosphorus  and  potassium  is  more  noticeable. 

In  1903  the  crops  were  even-poorer  than  in  the  previous  year.  (Hun- 
dreds of  acres  of  wheat  in  southern  Illinois  were  not  cut.)  Phosphorus 
produced  a  slight  increase  in  the  yield  of  oats  and  a  very  marked  in- 
crease in  the  yield  of  wheat,  especially  on  tile-drained  land  (plots  208 
and  209),  where,  the  increase  was  from  2.1  bushels  to  13.4  bushels,  or  a 
gain  of  11.3  bushels.  It  will  be  observed  that  with  legume-lime-phos- 
phorus treatment,  5.8  bushels  were  obtained  on  undrained  land,  that  this 
was  increased  to  13.4  bushels,  or  7.6  gain,  by  tile  drainage,  and  that  it 
was  increased  to  14.0  bushels,  or  8.2  gain,  by  adding  potassium,  thus 
suggesting  that  tile  drainage  may  serve  to  aid  the  crops  in  .drawing 
potassium  from  the  large  supply  in  the  subsoil,  by  encouraging  deeper 
rooting.  This  coincides  with  some  similar  indications  seen  in  the  results 
from  the  Edgewood  field;  but,  aside  from  this  single  wheat  plot  and 
three  plots  of  oats  in  1904,  no  appreciable  benefits  have  as  yet  resulted 
from  the  tile  drainage  at  Odin.  It  is  true  that -this  tile  has  been  in  only 
three  years  and  that  tile  usually  becomes  more  and  more  effective  for 
eight  or  ten  years;  also  that  the  first  two  years  were  almost  crop  failures, 
with  very  little  rainfall,  and  the  third  year  so  wet  that  even  the  tile- 
drained  land  contained  too  much  water  most  of  the  time.  It  would  be 
premature  to  draw  any  definite  conclusions  at  this  time  as  to  the  value 


576 


BULLETIN  No.  99. 


[March, 


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1905.]    SOIL  TREATMENT  FOR  THE  LOWER  ILLINOIS  GLACIATION.        577 

of  tile  drainage  in  this  soil.  One  thing,  however,  is  sure:  When  the 
ground  is  saturated  with  water,  a  good  stream  flows  out  of  the  tile,  at 
Edgewood,  at  Odin,  and  at  DuBois.  Greater  benefits  from,  tile  drainage 
may  be  obtained,  perhaps,  after  a  deep  rooting  biennial  crop,  like  red 
clover,  has  been  grown.  (After  next  season,  cow  peas  are  to  be  sub- 
stituted for  oats  and  red  clover  for  the  fourth  year  cow  peas,  in  the 
rotation  at  Odin,  making  the  rotation  corn,  cow  peas,  wheat,  and  clover.) 

Referring  again  to  Table  3,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  oat  crop  in  1903 
was  markedly  benefited  by  the  addition  of  potassium  to  the  other  treat- 
ment, the  yield  being  increased  by  17.2  bushels  on  undrained  land  and 
by  16.6  bushels  on  the  tile-drained  land. 

In  1904  favorable  weather  conditions  prevailed,  aside  from  the  ex- 
cessive rainfall,  which  during  the  spring  and  early  summer  was  more 
than  could  be  removed  by  the  tile  under  present  conditions.  The  wheat 
was  considerably  damaged  by  rust,  more  especially  on  the  better  plots. 
Some  very  marked  results  were  obtained  from  the  use  of  phosphorus 
for  wheat,  the  yield  being  increased  from  about  10  bushels  to  21.5  bushels, 
making  a  gain  of  11  bushels  on  undrained  land  and  12  bushels  on  tile- 
drained  land.  According  to  the  wheat  buyer's  grading,  the  phosphorus 
also  inproved  the  quality  of  the  wheat,  so  that  the  selling  price  was 
advanced  from  80  cents  to  90  cents  a  bushel.  Potassium  produced  an 
additional  gain  of  more  than  3  bushels  and  advanced  the  selling  price 
to  95  cents  a  bushel.  With  corn  and  oats,  phosphorus  produced  no 
appreciable  effect,  but  a  noticeable  increase  was  produced  by  lime  on 
both  corn  and  oats,  and  a  good  gain  was  made  on  the  oat  crop  by  the 
legume  treatment  alone;  but  the  most  marked  effect  was  produced  by 
the  potassium  on  the  corn  crop,  the  yield  of  corn  being  increased  on 
undrained  land  from  44.1  to  66.6,  a  gain  of  22.5  bushels,  and,  on  the 
tile-drained  land,  from  45.9  to  64.1,  a  gain  of  18.2  bushels,  making  an 
average  gain  of  more  than  20  bushels.  It  is  especially  instructive  to 
note  the  difference  in  yield  between  the  crops  on  the  untreated  plots 
and  those  receiving  full  treatment.  For  this  comparison  the  tile-drained 
plots  are  the  more  reliable,  as  they  are  more  nearly  uniform. 

Thus,  the  yield  of  wheat  was  increased  from  6.7  to  25.4,  a  gain  of 
18.7  bushels.  Furthermore,  the  yield  of  wheat  was  increased  in  1903 
from  .6  to  15.2,  a  gain  of  14.0  bushels,  making  a  total  increase  of  33.3 
bushels  in  two  years.  The  yield  of  corn  was  increased  from  29.4  to 
64.1,  a  gain  of  34.7  bushels.  In  1902  the  yield  of  corn  was  increased 
9.2  bushels  on  one  series  and  8.9  bushels  on  the  other;  and  in  1903  it 
was  increased  6.3  bushels.  This  would  make  24.4  bushels,  or  a  total 
gain  of  59.1  bushels  for  the  four  crops.  The  yield  of  oats  was  increased 
from  25.1  to  43.1,  a  gain  of  18  bushels.  In  1902  the  yield  of  oats  was 
increased  5.5  bushels,  and  in  1903  it  was  increased  20.8  bushels.  This 
would  make  26.3  bushels,  or  a  total  gain  of  44.3  bushels  in  three  years. 


578 


BULLETIN  No.  99. 


March. 


PLATE  3. — WHEAT  CROP  (2.1  bu.)  WITH  LEGUME  AND  LIME  TREATMENT: 
SOIL  EXPERIMENT  FIELD,  1903. 


ODIN 


PLATE  5. — WHEAT  CROP  (9.6  bu.)  WITH  LEGUME  AND  LIME  TREATMENT: 
SOIL  EXPERIMENT  FIELD,  1904. 


ODIN 


1905.]    SOIL  TREATMENT  FOR  THE  LOWER  ILLINOIS  GLACIATION.        579 


PLATE  4. — WHEAT  CROP  (13.4  bu.)  WITH  LEGUME,  LIME,  AND  PHOSPHORUS  TREAT- 
MENT:    ODIN  SOIL  EXPERIMENT  FIELD,  1903. 


PLATE  6. — WHEAT  CHOP  (21.5  bxi.)  WITH  LEG r ME,  T.IME,  AND  PHOSPHORUS  TREAT- 
MENT:    ODIN  SOIL  EXPERIMENT  FIELD,  1904. 


580 


BULLETIN  No.  99. 


[March, 


PLATE  7. — CORN  CROP  (29.4  bu.)  WITH  No  SOIL  TREATMENT:     ODIN  SOIL  EXPERI- 
MENT FIELD,  1904. 


1905.]    SOIL  TREATMENT  FOR  THE  LOWER  ILLINOIS  GLACIATION.        581 


PLATE  8. — CORN  CROP  (64.1  bu.)  WITH  LEGUME,  LIME,  PHOSPHORUS,  POTASSIUM 
TREATMENT:     ODIN  SOIL  EXPERIMENT  FIELD,  1904. 


582 


BULLETIN  No.  99. 


[March, 


PLATE  9. — Cow  PEA  CROP  WITH  No  SPECIAL  SOIL  TREATMENT:  ODIN  SOIL  EXPERI- 
MENT FIELD,  1904. 

As  shown  in  Table  3,  the  cow  pea  crop  was  turned  under  on  all 
plots  except  the  checks,  the  plan  being  to  turn  under  one  full  crop  of 
cow  peas  on  each  series  for  the  benefit  of  the  land,  this  being  in  addition 
to  the  catch  crops  grown.  It  was  observed,  however,  that  the  cow  pea 
crop  responds  to  soil  treatment  as  markedly  as  any  other  crop,  being 
especially  benefited  by  the  addition  of  limestone  and  potassium.  In 
order  to  obtain  some  data  as  to  the  effect  of  soil  treatment  on  cow  peas, 
one-thousandth  acre  plots  were  harvested  from  several  field  plots  in 
1904.  Plot  207,  with  only  legume  treatment,  produced  3.4  bushels  of 
shelled  peas  per  acre;  while  plot  210,  with  legume,  lime,  phosphorus, 
potassium  treatment,  produced  22.3  bushels  per  acre,  a  gain  of  19.1 
bushels.  The  three  years'  results  from  corn,  oats,  and  wheat  are  sum- 
marized in  Table  4. 


1905.]    Son,  TREATMENT  FOR  THE  LOWER  ILLINOIS  GLACIATION.        583 


PLATE  10. — Cow  PEA  CROP  WITH  LEGUME.  LIME,  PHOSPHORUS,  POTASSIUM  TREAT- 
MENT:    ODIN  SOIL  EXPERIMENT  FIELD.  1904. 

TABLE  4. — TOTAL  YIELDS  FOR  THREE  YEARS:     ODIN  SOIL  EXPERIMENT  FIELD. 


Soil  treatment. 

Corn,  bu. 

Oats,  bu. 

Wheat,  bu. 

None  . 

57  0 

45.4 

7.3 

Legume,  lime,  phosphorus,  potassium.  .  .  . 

116.1 

89.7 

40.6 

Increase  

59.1 

44.3 

33.3 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  effect  of  the  full  treatment  has  been  to  more 
than  double  the  yield  of  corn,  to  nearly  double  the  yield  of  oats,  and  to 
produce  a  total  yield  of  wheat  five  and  one-half  times  as  large  as  was 
produced  on  the  untreated  land.  Furthermore,  the  untreated  land  is 
growing  poorer,  while  the  treated  land  is  growing  richer,  much  more 
plant  food  having  been  applied  than  has  been  removed  in  the  crops. 
This  subject  will  be  discussed  more  fully  after  the  data  from  the  DuBois 
and  Cutler  fields  have  been  given. 


584 


BULLETIN  No.  99. 


[March, 


THE  DuBois  FIELD. 

The  DuBois  Soil  Experiment  Field  is  located  about  one  mile  north- 
west of  DuBois  (Bois  Station),  Washington  County,  on  the  farm  of 
Mr.  A.  A.  Hinkley.  It  contains  20  tenth-acre  plots,  arranged  in  two 
divisions  of  10  plots  each,  one  division  being  tile-drained  and  the  other 
not  drained.  A  four-year  rotation  is  being  followed  upon  this  field, 
namely : 

First  year,  corn. 

Second  year,  oats. 

Third  year,  wheat. 

Fourth  year,  clover. 

The  clover  is  seeded  on  the  wheat  land  in  the  spring  of  the  third  year. 

The  soil  treatment  applied  and  the  crop  yields  obtained  during  the 
first  three  years  are  shown  in  Table  5. 

TABLE  5. — CROP  YIELDS  IN  SOIL  EXPERIMENTS:     DuBois  FIELD. 


Soil 
plot 
No. 

Gray  silt  loam  prairie. 
Lower  Illinois  Glaciation. 

1902  Corn,  bu. 

1903  Oats,  bu. 

1904  Wheat,  bu. 

Soil  treatment  applied. 

Not 
drained. 

Tile- 
drained. 

Not 
drained. 

Tile- 
.drained. 

Not 
drained. 

Tile 
drained. 

1 

2 

None                                  .  .  . 

6.4 
6.7 

1.5 
3.3 

9.4 
16.2 

17.2 
17.2 

6.3 
6.5 

3.3 

11.5 

Lime  

3 

4 
5 

Lime  nitrogen 

5  9 

2.7 
6,.  5 
4.9 

18.1 
25.9 
27.5 

20.6 
27.5 

27.2 

11.0 
25.0 
16.2 

9.2 
28.3 
14.7 

Lime,  phosphorus       .... 

13.5 
11.6 

Lime,  potassium  

6 

7 
8 

Lime,  nit.,  phos  

9.3 
6.8 
12.4 

8.0 
7.3 
14.1 

25.0 
23.8 
30.0 

33.8 
27.2 
25.6 

32.7 
20.2 
27.5 

31.2 
23.3 
32.2 

Lime,  nit.,  potassium  .... 
Lime,  phos.,  potassium  .  . 

9 
10 

Lime,  nit.,  phos.,  potass. 
Nit.,  phos.,  potass.. 

10.4 
2.0 

10.4 

4.8 

29.1 
25.6 

31.9 
33.1 

33.3 
27.3 

30.5 

28.2 

Average  gain  for  nitrogen  
Average  gain  for  phosphorus  .  .  . 
Average  gain  for  potassium.  .  .  . 

-3.0 
3.9 
1.4 

.1 
5.2 
4.1 

-1.0 
6.1 
6.3 

4.1 
6.7 
3.1 

5.5 
16.2 
5.5 

1.9 
15.9 
5.1 

By  "average  gain"  is  meant  the  average  of  four  trials  with  the 
elements  named.  Thus,  by  comparing  the  yields  of  wheat  from  plots  2 
and  4  on  the  tile-drained  division  in  1904  (last  column),  it  will  be  seen 
that  the  addition  of  phosphorus  increased  the  yield  of  wheat  from  11.5 
on  plot  2  to  28.3  on  plot  4,  a  gain  of  16.8  bushels  for  the  phosphorus 
applied.  Comparing  the  yields  from  plots  3  and  6,  we  see  that  phos- 
phorus, added  to  lime  and  nitrogen,  made  a  gain  of  22  bushels  of  wheat 
to  the  acre.  Phosphorus  made  a  gain  of  17.5  bushels  on  plot  8,  as  com- 
pared with  plot  5,  and  a  gain  of  7.2  bushels  on  plot  9  as  compared  with 
plot  7.  The  total  gain  from  the  four  tests  is  63.5  bushels,  or  an  average 
gain  of  15.9  bushels  of  wheat  per  acre,  due  to  the  phosphorus  applied, 
as  stated' in^the  table. 

_•       •• 


1905.]    SOIL  TREATMENT  FOR  THE  LOWER  ILLINOIS  GLACIATION.       585 

It  will  be  observed  that  the  1902  corn  crop  was  a  failure,  14.1  bushels 
being  the  highest  yield  obtained,  and  the  oat  crop  in  1903  was  also 
very  poor,  so  that  no  conclusions  can  be  drawn  from  the  first  two  years' 
work,  although  phosphorus  seems  to  rank  first  when  the  average  gains 
made  by  each  of  the  three  elements  are  compared. 

The  1904  wheat  crop  was  fairly  satisfactory,  although  it  was  much 
damaged  by  rust,  especially  on  the  better  yielding  plots.  Phosphorus 
produced  very  marked  gains  in  the  yield  of  wheat,  averaging  16  bushels 
gain  for  eight  separate  tests.  The  gain  for  nitrogen  was  3.7  bushels, 
and  for  potassium  5.3  bushels,  as  an  average  of  eight  separate  tests 
with  each  element.  The  lime-nitrogen  treatment  on  plot  3  corresponds 
to  legume-lime  treatment  on  our  rotation  experiments,  where  the  legume 
treatment  is  depended  upon  to  supply  the  nitrogen.  The  growing  of 
legumes  (mostly  cow  peas)  with  the  hope  of  thus  improving  this  southern 
Illinois  soil  is  a  somewhat  common  practice,  and  some  ground  limestone 
is  already  being  used  to  correct  the  acidity  of  soil  and  thus  to  encourage 
the  nitrogen-gathering  bacteria  and  make  the  growing  of  legumes, 
especially  of  red  clover,  more  successful.  It  may  be  definitely  stated, 
even  at  this  early  date,  and  without  hesitation  or  doubt,  that  a  liberal 
use  of  lime  and  legumes  will  be  an  essential  part  of  any  practical  and 
economical  system  that  ever  becomes  successful  in  the  permanent  im- 
provement of  southern  Illinois  soil.  This  being  granted,  it  is  of  especial 
interest  and  importance  to  note  the  marked  effect  produced  by  adding 
phosphorus  to  lime  and  nitrogen.  By  comparing  plots  3  and  6,  it  will 
be  observed  that  phosphorus  produced  some  gain  every  year  on  both 
undrained  and  tile-drained  land,  3.4  and  5.3  bushels  of  corn  in  1902, 
6.9  and  13.2  bushels  of  oats  in  1903,  and  21.7  and  22  bushels  of  wheat 
in  1904,  all  of  which  tends  to  prove  that  a  liberal  use  of  the  element 
phosphorus  must  be  included  in  the  plan  for  improving  this  soil,  especially 
for  wheat  growing.  The  wheat  grower  will  be  interested  to  know  that 
the  quality  or  market  value  of  the  wheat  was  also  markedly  improved 
by  phosphorus.  According  to  the  grain  buyer  at  DuBois,  the  wheat 
from  plots  106  and  206  (averaging  32  bushels  per  acre),  was  worth  15 
cents  more  per  bushel  than  the  wheat  from  plots  103  and  203  (averaging 
10  bushels  per  acre). 

Clover  was  seeded  with  the  oats  on  the  DuBois  field  in  1903,  and  a 
very  good  stand  was  obtained,  but  most  of  it  died  even  before  the  oats 
were  cut.  A  careful  examination  showed  that  the  soil  did  not  contain 
the  red  clover  bacteria,  as  no  tubercles  could  be  found  upon  the  clover 
roots.  The  field  was  inoculated  about  the  first  of  July  with  infected 
red  clover  soil,  and  this  may  have  been  some  help  to  the  clover  still 
living  at  that  time,  and  the  clover,  although  a  poor  stand,  doubtless 
helped  the  bacteria  to  multiply  somewhat,  so  that  the  soil  became  well 
infected.  The  field  was  plowed  and  seeded  to  wheat  in  the  fall  of  1903, 


586 


BULLETIN  No.  99 


|  March, 


PLATE  11. — FIRST  YEAR  CLOVER  (MOSTLY  FOUL  GRASS)  WITH  No  SPECIAL  SOIL 
TREATMENT:     DuBois  SOIL  EXPERIMENT  FIELD,  1904  (AUTUMN). 


and  clover  again  seeded  in  the  spring  of  1904.  A  good  stand  was  ob- 
tained and,  with  the  exception  of  the  unlimed  check  plots,  a  very  satis- 
factory growth  was  made  during  the  season  of  1904,  and  the  clover  was 
found  to  be  well  provided  with  root  tubercles.  On  the  unlimed  check 
plots  most  of  the  clover  died  during  the  season.  Of  course,  no  clover 
yields  will  be  obtained  till  next  season,  but  Plates  11  and  12  show  the 
condition  of  the  clover  in  the  fall  of  1904.  It  will  be  seen  that  on  the 
check  plot,  where  no  lime  was  applied,  there  is  only  a  scanty  growth 
of  foul  grass  and  weeds,  while  a  good  growth  of  clover  is  seen  on  the 
limed  plot. 


1905.]    SOIL  TREATMENT  FOR  THE  LOWER  ILLINOIS  GLACIATION.        587 


PLATE  12. — FIRST  YEAR  CLOVER  ("KNEE  DEEP")  WITH  LIME  TREATMENT: 
DuBois  Son.  EXPERIMENT  FIELD,  1904  (AUTUMN). 


THE  CUTLER  FIELD. 

The  Cutler  Soil  Experiment  Field  is  located  about  five  miles  north- 
west of  Cutler,  Perry  County,  on  the  farm  of  Mr.  W.  E.  Braden.  The 
original  field  contains  40  fifth-acre  plots.  Thirty  of  these  are  in  three 
divisions  of  10  plots  each,  for  a  three-year  rotation  of  wheat,  corn,  and 
cow  peas.  On  certain  plots  a  catch  crop  of  cow  peas  is  also  grown  after 
the  wheat  and  with  the  corn.  The  other  10-plot  series  is  used  for  a 
"complete  fertility  test,"  some  nitrogen  having  been  purchased  for  use 
on  this  field.  A  four-year  rotation  of  corn,  oats,  wheat,  and  clover  is 
followed  on  this  series.  The  soil  treatment  and  crop  yields  for  the 
individual  plots  are  shown  in  Tables  6  and  7.  None  of  the  Cutler  field 
is  tile-drained. 


588 


BULLETIN  No.  99. 


[March, 


TABLE  6. — CROP  YIELDS  IN  SOIL  EXPERIMENTS:    CUTLER  FIELD. 


Soil 
plot 

No. 

Gray  silt  loam  prairie, 
Lower  Dlinois  Glaciation. 

Bushels  per  acre. 

Soil  treatment  applied. 

1902. 

1903. 

1904. 

Cow  Peas. 

Wheat, 

Corn. 

201 
202 
203 

None                          

removed 
turned 
removed 

6.0 
9.2 
12.1 

22.8 
24.7 
36.9 

Legume  .               .        

Manure  

204 
205 

Legume,  lime  

turned 
removed 

13.5 
13.3 

30.6 
44.1 

Manure,  lim'e  

206 
207 

Legume,  lime,  phosphorus  

turned 
removed 

20.3 
20.8 

30  6 
30.9 

Manure,  lime,  phosphorus 

208 
209 
210 

Legume,  lime,  phosphorus,  potass. 
Manure,  lime,  phosphorus,  potass. 
Lime,  phosphorus,  potass. 

turned 
removed 
removed 

26.8 
24.0 
21.1 

60.0 
70.9 
71.9 

Oats. 

Cow  Peas. 

Wheat. 

211 
212 
213 

None          

19.6 
23.8 
26.6 

removed 
turned 
removed 

9.0 
8.5 
18.2 

Legume  .                 

Manure  

214 
215 

Legume,  lime  

26.9 
27.8 

turned 
removed 

8.8 
18.4 

Manure,  lime  

216 
217 

Legume,  lime,  phosphorus  

28.0 
25.2 

turned 
removed 

14.3 
19.7 

Manure,  lime,  phosphorus  

218 
219 
220 

Legume,  lime,  phosphorus,  potass. 
Manure,  lime,  phosphorus,  potass. 
Lime,  phosphorus,  potass. 

31.1 

28.8 
26.7 

turned 
removed 
removed 

16.4 
19.7 
15.0 

Wheat. 

Corn. 

Cow  Peas. 

221 
222 
223 

None  

12.8 
12.4 
12.4 

4.0 
3.7 
3.5 

removed 
turned 
removed 

Legume  

Manure  

224 
225 

Legume,  lime  

13.3 
12.9 

3.7 
3.6 

turned 
removed 

Manure,  lime  

226 
227 

Legume,  lime  '"phosphorus  .  . 

16.9 
16.1 

2.4 
2.1 

turned 
removed 

Manure,  lime,  phosphorus  

228 
229 
230 

Legume,  lime,  phosphorus,  potass. 
Manure,  lime,  phosphorus,  potass. 
Lime,  phosphorus,  potass. 

20.8 
19.4 
20.8 

3.7 
6.1 
9.2 

turned 
removed 
removed 

Manure  is  applied  for  wheat  after  cow  peas.  Plots  203,  205,  207 
and  209  were  manured  for  the  1903  wheat  crop,  plots  213,  215,  217  and 
219  for  the  1904  wheat  crop,  and  plots  223,  225,  227  and  229  for  the 
1905  wheat  crop.  Thus,  no  crop  grown  in  1902  had  received  manure 
or  legume  treatment.  During  the  first  course  of  the  rotation  one  full 
crop  of  cow  peas  has  been  turned  under  on  all  plots  receiving  legume 
treatment,  but  afterward  the  legume  treatment  consists  of  catch  crops 
only.  Lime  was  not  applied  to  plots  224  to  230  till  after  the  1902  wheat 
crop  had  been  harvested.  Oats  were  substituted  for  corn  in  1902  on 
plots  211  to  220. 


1905.]    SOIL  TREATMENT  FOR  THE  LOWEH  ILLINOIS  GLACIATION.        589 

In  1902  phosphorus  increased  the  yield  of  wheat  from  12.8  (average 
of  five  untreated  plots),  to  16.5,  a  gain  of  3.7  bushels,  and  potassium 
further  increased  the  yield  from  16.5  to  20.3,  a  gain  of  3.8  bushels,  but 
no  appreciable  effect  was  produced  on  the  oat  crop. 

In  1903  the  corn  crop  was  a  failure  on  the  Cutler  field,  owing  to 
the  drouth.  On  the  other  hand,  some  very  satisfactory  results  were 
obtained  with  wheat,  the  maximum  increase  being  from  6  bushels,  with 
no  treatment,  to  26.8  bushels,  with  legume-lime-phosphorus-potassium 
treatment,  a  gain  of  20.8  bushels  of  wheat,  the  credit  for  this  increase 
being  divided  as  follows:  3.2  for  legume  treatment,  4.3  for  lime,  6.8 
for  phosphorus,  and  6.5  for  potassium.  With  the  manured  plots  the  total 
gain  was  18  bushels,  divided  as  follows:  6.1  for  manure  alone,  1.2  for 
lime,  7.5  for  phosphorus,  and  3.2  for  potassium.  Lime-phosphorus- 
potassium  treatment  made  a  gain  of  15.1  bushels,  without  manure  or 
legume  turned  under. 

In  1904  the  wheat  was  much  injured  by  rust,  especially  on  the  best 
treated  plots.  Manure  alone  made  a  gain  of  8.4  bushels.  Phosphorus 
gained  5.5  bushels  on  the  legume  plot.  These  are  the  most  marked 
effects  from  the  treatment,  but  no  conclusions  can  be  drawn,  owing  to 
the  great  damage  from  rust,  which  probably  reduced  the  yield  fully 
one-half  on  some  plots.  The  corn  crop,  however,  was  fairly  satisfactory. 
The  manure  applied  in  1902  still  shows  some  effect  in  1904,  although 
the  results  are  discordant.  The  most  marked  and  positive  result  is 
the  large  increase  produced  by  potassium,  the  average  increase  being 
from  30.8  to  67.6,  or  a  gain  of  36.8  bushels  of  corn  per  acre  for  the  element 
potassium.  On  the  undrained  land  at  Odin  potassium  gained  22.5 
bushels  of  corn,  and  on  the  undrained  land  at  Edgewood  potassium 
gained  8.5  bushels.  An  average  of  these  three  tests  in  1904  makes  a 
gain  of  22.6  bushels  of  corn  to  the  acre  for  this  element  potassium.  At 
40  cents  a  bushel,  this  corn  would  be  worth  $9.04.  The  potassium 
applied  to  these  fields  during  the  past  three  years  amounts  to  160  pounds 
of  that  element.  At  6  cents  a  pound,  this  has  cost  $9.60  an  acre.  With 
one  exception,  small  gains  were  made  by  potassium  on  all  of  these  fields 
in  1902  and  1903,  so  that  the  increased  crop  yields  have  fully  paid  for 
all  the  potassium  which  has  been  used  on  those  plots  which  grew  corn 
in  1904,  but  this  is  not  true  with  plots  which  did  not  grow  corn  in  1904, 
and  which  have  also  received  potassium.  Consequently,  it  is  still  an 
open  question  whether  the  purchase  of  commercial  potassium  for  use 
on  this  soil  will  be  profitable.  By  studying  the  plant  food  taken  from 
the  soil  by  different  crops,  as  given  on  page  4  of  Circular  68,  also  the 
yield  of  crops  from  these  different  fields,  as  reported  in  this  bulletin, 
it  will  be  seen  that  about  one-half  of  the  potassium  which  has  been 
applied  to  these  fields  still  remains  in  the  soil,  so  that  the  soil  is  growing 
richer  instead  of  poorer,  It  should  also  be  remembered  that  it  takes 


590 


BULLETIN  No.  99. 


some  time  to  get  the  full  benefit  of  soil  treatment,  especially  of  rotation 
of  crops.  We  cannot  practice  a  four-year  rotation  in  one  year's  time. 
Indeed,  it  really  takes  four  years  to  get  such  a  rotation  properly  started. 
The  second  four-years'  course  should  show  some  of  the  benefits,  but  the 
full  benefits  should  not  be  expected  before  the  third  four-years'  course. 
It  is  true  that  the  effect  of  potassium  on  the  1904  corn  crop  was 
extremely  marked,  but  it  is  also  true  that  the  season  of  1904  was  ex- 
tremely abnormal  in  southern  Illinois.  During  most  of  the  growing 
season  the  frequent  and  heavy  rains  kept  the  ground  soaked  so  full  of 
water  that  the  feeding  range  of  the  plant  roots  was  limited  to  a  few 
inches  of  surface  soil.  It  is  conceivable  that  a  liberal  supply  of  readily 
available  potassium  in  these  few  inches  of  soil  would  be  of  tremendous 
advantage  to  the  plant  under  such  conditions,  a  good  supply  of  the  other 
plant  food  elements  also  being  provided,  as  was  the  fact  in  all  cases. 
This  much  we  know  with  certainty  from  the  chemical  analysis  of  this 
soil,  namely,  that  it  actually  contains  moderate  amounts  of  potassium 
in  the  surface,  and  large  amounts  of  potassium  in  the  subsoil,  and  these 
investigations  must  be  continued  until  we  learn  definitely  whether  we 
cannot  draw  potassium  from  that  immense  store  more  cheaply  than  we 
can  obtain  it  from  the  mines  of  Germany.  Decaying  organic  matter, 
such  as  farm  manure  and  green  manures,  will  help  to  liberate  potassium 
from  the  soil.  Deep  rooting  plants,  especially  biennial  plants  like  red 
clover,  and  perennial  plants  like  alsike  clover,  which  have  strong  feeding 
powers,  will  help  to  obtain  potassium  from  the  soil  and  to  bring  it  up 
from  the  subsoil,  and  we  already  have  some  evidence  that  tile  drainage 
will  help  to  make  the  potassium  in  the  subsoil  more  available. 


TABLE  7. — CROP  YIELDS  IN  SOIL  EXPERIMENTS:    CUTLER  FIELD. 


Soil 
plot 

No. 

Gray  silt  loam  prairie, 
Lower  Illinois  Glaciation. 

Bushels  per  acre. 

Soil  treatment  applied. 

1902 
Corn. 

1903 
Oats. 

1904 
Wheat. 

1 
2 

None  

6.8 
5.2 

15.2 
13.7 

9.0 
10.5 

Lime  

3 

4 
5 

Lime,  nitrogen  
Lime,  phosphorus  
Lime,  potassium  

1.2 
3.5 
2.9 

16.6 
14.2 
18.0 

9.8 
21.9 
10.0 

6 

7 
8 

Lime,  nitrogen,  phosphorus  
Lime,  nitrogen,  potassium  
Lime,  phosphorus,  potassium  .  .  . 

2.2 
2.8 
10.2 

20.3 
20.0 
27.5 

15.8 
8.2 
22.4 

9 
10 

Lime,  nitrogen,  phosphorus,  potas. 
Nitrogen,  phosphorus,  potas. 

4.6 
5.4 

28.7 
37.7 

17.7 
15.0 

Average  gain  for  nitrogen  
Average  gain  for  phosphorus  
Average  gain  for  potassium 

—2.8 
+  2.1 

+  2.4 

+  5.0 

+  5.6 
+  7.4 

—4.9 
+  9.8 
+    .1 

Son.  TKKATMKNT  KOH  THU  LOWKK  ILLINOIS  GLACIATION.        591 

Tlic  other  division  of  the  field  at  Cutler  contains  10  plots  in  the 
"complete  fertility  test."  A  four-year  rotation  of  corn,  oats,  wheat, 
and  clover  is  being  grown  upon  this  field.  The  treatment  applied  and 
the  crop  yields  obtained  are  shown  in  Table  7. 

The  corn  crop  grown  in  1902  was  almost  a  complete  failure,  chiefly 
because  of  the  drouth,  although  some  damage  was  caused  by  chinch 
bugs,  10.2  bushels  per  acre  being  the  highest  yield. 

In  1903  a  light  crop  of  oats  was  produced.  Appreciable  gains  were 
made  by  applications  of  plant  food,  especially  by  phosphorus  and  potas- 
sium combined.  The  lime  applied  in  1902  was  found  to  be  insufficient 
to  correct  the  acidity  of  the  soil,  and  a  heavier  application  was  made 
for  1903.  There  is  some  evidence  that  the  effect  of  this  was  to  reduce 
the  yield  of  oats,  and  this  might  be  expected,  especially  where  phos- 
phorus has  been  applied.  Similar  effects  have  been  observed  at  times 
in  pot-culture  experiments,  but  the  injurious  effect  is  temporary  and 
really  emphasizes  the  importance  of  applying  lime  some  months  before 
the  crop  is  to  be  grown,  or  of  plowing  under  the  phosphorus  and  then 
applying  the  lime  to  the  plowed  soil,  the  effect  of  lime  in  intimate  con- 
tact with  phosphorus  being  to  hold  the  phosphorus  in  an  insoluble  form. 
We  already  have  conclusive  evidence  that  heavy  applications  of  some 
form  of  lime  must  be  used  on  this  soil  for  the  successful  growing  of  legume 
crops,  especially  the  clovers  and  alfalfa,  and  certainly  we  can  never  hope 
to  restore  and  profitably  maintain  the  fertility  of  this  soil  without 
legumes. 

In  1904  the  best  wheat  plots  were  much  injured  by  rust,  on  this 
part  of  the  Cutler  field,  as  well  as  on  tHe  other.  The  only  noteworthy 
result  of  soil  treatment  is  the  marked  effect  produced  by  the  element 
phosphorus.  As  an  average  of  four  separate  trials,  phosphorus  made 
a  gain  of  9.8  bushels  of  wheat. 

GENERAL  AVERAGE  INCREASE. 

While  the  data  obtained  from  these  three  years'  work  do  not  justify  us 
in  drawing  final  conclusions,  yet  it  seems  worth  while  to  make  some  gen- 
eral averages  of  the  effects  produced  by  each  of  the  three  plant  food  ele- 
ments, bearing  in  mind  as  we  consider  them,  that  the  first  two  years  were 
seasons  of  severe  drouth,  especially  for  corn  at  Odin,  DuBois,  and  Cutler, 
and  that  the  last  year  (1904)  until  midsummer,  was  one  of  the  wettest 
seasons  ever  known  in  southern  Illinois. 

Table  8  shows  the  average  increase  in  bushels  of  corn,  oats,  and  wheat 
produced  by  nitrogen,  phosphorus  and  potassium,  the  total  number  of 
separate  tests  or  trials  being  mentioned  in  each  case. 

Every  individual  test  which  has  been  made  on  this  type  of  soil  and 
reported  in  the  preceding  pages  to  determine  the  effect  of  each  of  these 
three  elements,  either  alone  or  in  combination,  is  represented  in  the 
averages  {riven  in  Table  K, 


592 


BULLETIN  No.  99. 


[March, 


TABLE  8. — INCREASE  IN  CROP  YIELDS  IN  SOIL  EXPERIMENTS,  AVERAGE  TESTS  ON 

ALL  FIELDS  ON  GRAY  SILT  LOAM  PRAIRIE  SOIL  OF  THE  LOWER 

ILLINOIS  GLACIATION. 


Soil  treatment 

Corn. 

Oats. 

Wheat. 

Average 

Total 

applied. 

Bu.  in- 

No. of 

Bu.  in- 

No. of 

Bu.  in- 

No. of 

value  of 
increase. 

number 
of  tests. 

crease. 

tests. 

crease. 

tests. 

crease. 

tests. 

Nitrogen  .... 

—3.5 

16 

+  1.2 

16 

+   1.4 

12 

SO.  02 

44 

Phosphorus  .  . 

+  1.8 

32 

+  5.3 

25 

+  11.2 

21 

3.27 

78 

Potassium  .  .  . 

+  5.3 

32 

+  4.2 

25 

+  3.6 

21 

1.81 

78 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  average  yield  of  corn  has  been  reduced  3.5 
bushels  by  nitrogen,  increased  1.8  bushels  by  phosphorus,  and  in- 
creased 5.3  bushels  by  potassium. 

The  average- yield  of  oats  has  been  increased  1.2  bushels  by  nitrogen, 
5.3  bushels  by  phosphorus,  and  4.2  bushels  by  potassium. 

The  average  yield  of  wheat  has  been  increased  1.4  bushels  by  nitrogen, 
11.2  bushels  by  phosphorus,  and  3.6  bushels  by  potassium. 

If  we  consider  corn  worth  35  cents  a  bushel,  oats  25  cents  a  bushel,  and 
wheat  70  cents  a  bushel,  then  the  average  value  of  the  increase  produced 
by  nitrogen  is  2  cents  an  acre  a  year,  as  an  average  of  the  three  crops  in- 
cluding 44  separate  tests;  the  average  value  of  the  increase  produced  by 
phosphorus  is  $3.27  an  acre  a  year,  including  78  separate  tests;  and  $1-.81 
an  acre  a  year  is  the  average  value  of  the  increase  produced  by  potassium, 
78  separate  tests  being  included. 

The  present  retail  price  of  good  steamed  bone  meal  in  southern  Illinois, 
containing  12£  percent  of  phosphorus,  is  about  $25  a  ton.  At  this  rate 
25  pounds  of  phosphorus  or  2  pounds  more  than  would  be  removed  in  a 
100-bushel  crop  of  corn,  would  cost  $2.50. 

At  $50  a  ton  for  potassium  chlorid  (the  cheapest  commercial  form  of 
potassium)  which  contains  about  42  percent  of  that  element,  the  71 
pounds  of  potassium  removed  in  a  100-bushel  crop  of  corn  would  cost 
about  $4.20. 

At  the  same  prices  the  11  pounds  of  phosphorus  removed  by  a  75-bushel 
crop  of  oats  would  cost  $1.10,  and  the  49  pounds  of  potassium  for  the 
same  crop  would  cost  $2.94;  the  12^  pounds  of  phosphorus  for  a  50- 
bushel  wheat  crop  would  cost  $1.25,  and  the  56  pounds  of  potassium 
required  for  the  same  crop  would  cost  $3.36. 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  if  we  consider  the  plant  food  requirements 
of  these  crops  and  the  present  prices  of  phosphorus  and  potassium  and  the 
increased  crop  yields  which  those  elements  have  produced  as  an  average 
of  78  tests  each,  we  can  very  profitably  make  use  of  phosphorus  in  steamed 
bone  meal  in  sufficient  quantities  to  maintain  such  maximum  crop  yields, 
but  it  is  not  so  evident  that  commercial  potassium  can  be  used  with  profit. 

Raw  rock  phosphate  containing  250  pounds  of  phosphorus  to  the  ton 


1905.]    SOIL  TREATMENT  FOR  THE  LOWER  ILLINOIS  GLACIATION.        593 

is  as  rich  as  good  steamed  bone  meal  and  can  be  obtained  in  carload  lots 
delivered  at  any  railroad  station  in  southern  Illinois  for  about  $8.00  a 
ton,  or  one-third  the  price  of  steamed  bone  meal.  When  used  in  combina- 
tion with  decaying  organic  matter,  raw  rock  phosphate  promises  to  be 
the  most  economical  form  of  phosphorus  to  purchase  and  use  on  this  soil. 


THE  CIRCULATION  OF  PLANT  FOOD. 

From  two-thirds  to  three-fourths  of  the  phosphorus  removed  in  the 
above-named  crops  is  contained  in  the  grain,  while  only  one-fourth  to 
one-third  is  contained  in  the  stover  or  straw.  If  the  grain  is  sold,  the 
larger  part  of  the  phosphorus  is  sold  with  it.  If  the  crops  are  fed  to 
growing  animals,  about  20  to  30  percent  of  the  phosphorus  is  used  in  the 
formation  of  bones,  and  these  are  sold  with  the  animals.  That  the  element 
phosphorus  is  already  deficient  in  this  soil  has  been  shown  by  chemical 
analysis  and  confirmed  by  pot  cultures  and  by  many  field  experiments 
each  year  for  three  successive  years,  and  there  is  no  system  of  farming 
which  can  be  followed  by  all  farmers  which  does  not  continually  remove 
phosphorus  from  the  farm.  (Butter  is  the  only  common  farm  product 
which  contains  no  appreciable  amount  of  phosphorus.) 

Regarding  potassium  there  are  some  interesting  points  to  be  consid- 
ered. The  chemical  composition  of  this  soil  shows  that  it  is  moderately 
well  supplied  with  that  element,  even  in  the  top  soil,  and  that  the  sub- 
soil is  rich  in  potassium.  Whether  sufficient  potassium  for  the  most 
profitable  crop  yields  can  be  liberated  from  the  soil  by  the  use  of  decay- 
ing organic  matter,  deep  rooting  crops,  tile  drainage,  etc.,  is  not  yet 
determined.  (Some  extensive  experiments  with  subsoiling  are  included 
in  plans  for  continuing  the  investigation  of  this  soil  type.) 

About  three-fourths  of  the  potassium  removed  from  the  soil  by  crops 
of  corn,  oats,  or  wheat  is  contained  in  the  stalks  or  straw,  while  only  one- 
fourth  is  contained  in  the  grain.  If  the  crops  are  fed  on  the  farm,  prac- 
tically all  of  the  potassium  remains  in  the  solid  and  liquid  manure,  and 
it  may  thus  be  returned  to  the  land.  Because  of  these  facts,  it  thus  be- 
comes possible  to  use  potassium  again  and  again  if  we  practice  a  live  stock 
system  of  farming  and  carefully  save  and  return  to  the  land  all  of  the 
farm  manure.  Even  if  we  sell  some  of  the  most  valuable  grains,  such  as 
wheat,  but  feed  the  corn  and  oats  and  all  coarse  feed,  using  sufficient  bed- 
ding to  absorb  and  retain  all  liquid  manure,  we  would  still  lose  but  very 
little  potassium  from  the  farm.  This  being  true,  it  may  ultimately  prove 
profitable  to  maintain  in  the  soil  a  liberal  supply  of  available  potassium, 
even  though  it  may  be  necessary  to  make  heavy  initial  applications  of 
commercial  potassium,  and  afterward  to  restore  from  time  to  time  as 
much  as  is  sold  or  lost  from  the  farm,  but  further  investigations  are 
needed  to  determine  this. 


594  BULLETIN   No.  99 

It  is  good  farm  practice  to  remove  large  quantities  of  plant  food  from 
the  soil,  for  the  simple  reason  that  large  crops  require  large  quantities 
of  plant  food ;  but  it  is  no  less  important  to  restore  to  the  soil  when  needed 
as  large  or  larger  quantities  of  plant  food  as  are  removed — by  turning 
under  catch  crops  and  crop  residues  not  removed  from  the  field,  by  re- 
turning manures  produced  on  the  farm,  and  so  far  as  necessary  by  the 
purchase  of  commercial  plant  food,  such  as  phosphorus  in  bone  meal  or 
rock  phosphate,  or  potassium  in  potassium  chlorid  or  potassium  sulfate. 
Thus  the  most  important  process  in  all  farm  operations  is  the  circulation 
of  plant  food,  without  which  the  fertility  of  cropped  soils  cannot  be  per- 
manently maintained. 

RECOMMENDATIONS    CONCERNING    SOIL    TREATMENT    FOR 

THE  LOWER  ILLINOIS  GLACIATION. 

FARM  MANURE. 

So  far  as  possible  all  general  farm  crops,  excepting  the  most  valuable 
grains,  should  be  fed  to  live  stock.  Plenty  of  bedding  should  be  used  and 
all  solid  and  liquid  manure  thus  saved  and  returned  to  the  land.  A  live 
stock  system  of  farming  is  very  much  more  important  for  this  soil  at 
the  present  time  than  for  the  richer  soils  of  the  corn  belt. 

It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  dwell  upon  the  great  value  of  farm  manure 
for  use  on  this  soil.  Indeed,  the  farmers  of  southern  Illinois  commonly 
appreciate  the  value  of  farm  manure  much  more  fully  than  do  the  farmers 
in  the  central  and  northern  parts  of  the  state.  As  a  rule,  the  farm  man- 
ure produced  in  southern  Illinois  is  carefully  saved  and  used,  and  the 
only  insurmountable  difficulty  of  restoring  all  the  soil  of  the  Lower 
Illinois  Glaciation  to  a  high  state  of  fertility  by  the  use  of  farm  manure  is 
the  simple  fact  that  all  the  manure  now  being  produced  in  southern  Illinois 
is  barely  sufficient  to  manure  the  garden  patches.  The  crops  grown 
on  that  soil  without  the  use  of  imported  plant  food,  even  though  they 
were  all  fed  to  live  stock,  would  never  produce  sufficient  manure  to  make 
that  land  rich. 

LEGUMES  AND  LIME. 

While  it  is  true  that  nitrogen  is  not  the  element  which  first  limits 
the  yield  of  crops  upon  this  soil,  it  is  also  true  that  the  fertility  of  the 
soil  cannot  be  satisfactorily  increased  and  permanently  maintained 
without  some  provision  of  maintaining  the  supply  of  nitrogen.  The 
most  economical  and  rational  method  of  restoring  and  maintaining  the 
supply  of  nitrogen  is  by  means  of  legume  crops,  and  legumes  should  cer- 
tainly be  given  a  prominent  place  in  any  system  of  crop  rotation  adopted 
on  this  land.  But  clover  and  other  valuable  legume  crops  cannot  be 
grown  in  strongly  acid  soils  with  full  success  owing  to  the  fact  that  the  ni- 
trogen-fixing bacteria  are-not  sufficiently  active  and  effective  in  such  soils. 


1905.]    SOIL  TREATMENT  FOR  THE  LOWER  ILLINOIS  GLACIATION.        595 

As  a  result  of  chemical  analysis  and  of  the  field  experiments  thus  far  per- 
formed, it  is  recommended  that  at  least  two  tons  per  acre  of  ground  lime- 
stone be  applied  to  this  soil  previous  to  sowing  legumes.  For  the  best 
results,  it  is  believed  that  this  should  not  be  plowed  under,  but  rather 
applied  after  plowing  and  mixed  with  the  surface  soil  by  disking,  harrow- 
ing, and  cultivating.  If  applied  after  the  soil  is  plowed  for  corn,  the 
limestone  becomes  thoroughly  mixed  with  the  soil  by  the  time  the  corn  is 
laid  by.  The  corn  may  be  followed  by  cow  peas  or  soy  beans  or  by  wheat 
or  oats  and  the  land  then  seeded  to  clover. 

Unless  it  is  known  that  the  soil  is  already  infected  with  the  proper 
nitrogen-fixing  bacteria,  it  should  of  course  be  inoculated.  The  surest 
and  simplest  method  of  inoculation  for  clover  is  to  obtain  some  thorough- 
ly infected  soil  from  an  old  clover  field  wherever  tubercles  are  found  in 
abundance  on  the  clover  roots.  In  most  vicinities,  some  good  patches  of 
clover  can  be  found  within  hauling  distance  on  some  old  feed  lot  or  patch 
of  timber  land  or  bottom  land.  About  100  pounds  to  the  acre  of  thor- 
oughly infected  soil  scattered  over  the  land  broadcast  about  the  time  the 
clover  is  seeded  will  usually  produce  a  satisfactory  inoculation  if  the 
soil  is  in  suitable  condition,  although  several  hundred  pounds  may  well 
be  used  if  the  expense  is  slight.  Farmers  are  strongly  advised  against 
buying  any  patent  artificial  bacteria  cultures  with  which  to  make  inocu- 
lating solutions.  Artificial  cultures  have  been  used  in  comparison  with 
the  natural  soil  method  for  about  fifteen  years,  but  the  combined  evidence 
of  all  comparable  data  thus  far  reported  is  strongly  in  favor  of  using  the 
natural  soil  method.  Ten  years  ago  German  promoters  established  com- 
mercial laboratories  and  endeavored  to  sell  artificial  cultures  of  nitrogen- 
fixing  bacteria  to  the  farmers.  Just  now  American  promoters  are  trying 
to  sell  artificial  cultures  to  American  farmers.  One  1905  Seed  Catalogue 
advertises  as  follows: 

"NITRO-CULTURE. 

"A  Wonderful  Discovery. 

"Doubles  the  Yield. 

"Insures  Crops  of  Alfalfa  and  other  Leguminous  Plants  on  all  Soils. 


"Price,  postpaid,  pkg.,  sufficient  for  one  acre,  $2.00." 

While  it  is  true  that  the  inoculation  of  legumes  on  suitable  soils,  not 
already  infected  with  the  proper  bacteria,  usually  results  in  a  marked 
increase  in  yield,  it  is  also  true  that  this  "wonderful  discovery"  was  made 
some  fifteen  years  ago.  It  is  not  true  that  the  mere  inoculation  of  the 
soil  "insures  crops  of  alfalfa  and  other  leguminous  plants  on  all  soils," 
as  lime  and  phosphorus  (and  on  some  soils  potassium)  are  just  as  es- 
sential as  nitrogen-fixing  bacteria.  It  is  tine  that  inoculation  can  be 


596  BULLETIN  No.  99.  [March. 

produced  by  the  use  of  such  artificial  cultures  with  sufficient  care  and 
proper  manipulation,  but  it  is  also  true  that  the  surest  and  simplest 
method  is  to  use  natural  soil,  and  usually  this  is  the  least  expensive  in  the 
end,  unless  the  infected  soil  must  be  shipped  long  distances.  For  further 
information  relating  to  this  subject,  the  reader  is  referred  to  Illinois 
Bulletin  No.  76,  "Alfalfa  on  Illinois  Soils,"  and  No.  94,  "Nitrogen  Bac- 
teria and  Legumes,"  and  to  Circular  No.  86,  "Science  and  Sense  in  the 
Inoculation  of  Legumes." 

PHOSPHORUS. 

It  is  true  that  we  can  increase  the  supply  of  nitrogen  (the  element 
needed  least  of  all)  by  the  use  of  legumes;  and  possibly,  by  means  of 
decaying  organic  matter,  by  tile  drainage,  or  by  subsoiling,  or  by  two 
or  three  of  these  methods,  we  can  make  available  from  the  soil  sufficient 
potassium  for  maximum  profitable  crop  yields,  and  by  feeding  practically 
all  of  the  crops  and  saving  and  returning  to  the  soil  all  of  the  manure,  we 
can  perhaps  maintain  the  supply  of  potassium  indefinitely;  but  there  is 
no  method  known  or  suggested  by  which  the  ordinary  soil  of  the  Lower  Illinois 
Glaciation  can  be  made  sufficiently  rich  in  phosphorus  to  produce  the  most 
profitable  crops  without  buying  phosphorus  in  some  form  and  applying  it  to 
the  land. 

The  average  results  of  all  experiments  show  that  the  increased  crop 
yields  produced  by  phosphorus  are  more  than  enough  to  pay  for  steamed 
bone  meal  sufficient  to  meet  the  needs  of  maximum  crop  yields,  so  that  by 
proper  use  of  steamed  bone  meal,  the  soil  could  be  steadily  enriched  in 
phosphorus  and  yield  an  increased  net  profit  at  the  same  time.  And  it 
now  seems  evident  that  by  proper  use  of  large  amounts  of  raw  rock  phos- 
phate with  decaying  organic  matter,  the  soil  can  be  more  rapidly  enriched 
in  phosphorus  at  less  expense  and  with  greater  increase  in  net  profits  than 
with  steamed  bone  meals 

The  method  of  applying  the  rock  phosphate  may  vary  under  dif- 
ferent conditions.  It  may  be  sprinkled  over  the  manure  from  day  to  day 
as  it  accumulates  in  the  stable  or  feeding  shed,  at  the  rate  of  about  100 
pounds  of  rock  phosphate  for  each  ton  of  manure ;  or  it  may  be  sprinkled 
over  the  manure  as  it  is  being  loaded  on  the  wagon  or  manure  spreader ;  or 
it  may  be  spread  broadcast  on  the  land  and  plowed  under  with  stable 
manure  or  clover  or  cow  peas,  or  other  organic  matter.  If  the  ground 
could  be  disked  before  being  plowed,  and  the  phosphate  and  organic 
matter  thus  mixed  with  each  other  and  with  the  soil,  it  would  doubtless 
be  an  advantage. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  it  is  best  to  plow  the  phosphate  under,  but 
it  is  believed  that  the  ground  limestone  which  may  be  used  on  a'cid  soils 
should  not  be  plowed  under,  but  rather  applied  after  plowing  and  well 
mixed  with  the  surface  soil. 


1905.]    SOIL  TREATMENT  FOR  THE  LOWER  ILLINOIS  GLACIATION.        597 

CROPS  AND  CROP  ROTATIONS. 

While  any  of  the  ordinary  farm  crops  can  be  grown  successfully  on 
the  soil  of  the  Lower  Illinois  Glaciation,  as  shown  by  the  fact  that  our  best 
treated  plots  in  1904  produced  higher  yields  than  60  bushels  of  corn,  40 
bushels  of  oats,  30  bushels  of  wheat,  and  2  tons  of  clover  hay,  nevertheless 
the  soil  is  better  adapted  to  some  crops  than  to  others.  Undoubtedly 
wheat  takes  first  rank  among  the  crops  well  adapted  to  this  soil  and 
climate.  The  compact  soil  is  very  suitable  for  wheat  culture.  The  fall 
weather  is  usually  favorable  to  sowing  wheat  and  the  mild  winter  and 
early  spring  with  abundant  rainfall  make  almost  ideal  weather  conditions 
for  this  crop.  Furthermore,  the  wheat  usually  matures  soon  after  the 
heavy  spring  rains  and  before  the  midsummer  drouth.  The  nearness 
to  the  great  wheat  markets  is  an  additional  advantage. 

The  chief  difficulties  in  wheat  growing  are  the  lack  of  proper  plant 
food,  the  Hessian  fly,  the  chinch  bug,  and  the  tendency  of  the  farmer 
to  grow  wheat  after  wheat.  By  suitable  rotation  of  crops,  the  development 
of  the  fly  and  chinch  bugs  is  discouraged,  and  by  rotation  and  proper 
treatment,  the  soil  becomes  able  to  produce  strong  growing  plants  which 
suffer  less  from  insect  attacks.  Land  bearing  a  heavy  crop  of  wheat,  es- 
pecially with  a  good  growth  of  clover  in  it,  offers  very  unfavorable  condi- 
tions for  the  chinch  bug. 

The  oat  crop  is  not  well  adapted  to  this  soil  and  climate.  Chiefly 
because  the  land  is  not  well  drained,  the  frequent  early  spring  rains 
render  it  difficult  to  sow  oats  at  the  proper  time,  and  the  early  summer 
drouth  may  injure  the  immature  crop. 

Unless  the  summer  drouth  is  too  severe,  corn,  cow  peas,  soy  beans,  and 
clover  are  very  well  adapted  to  this  soil  when  properly  treated. 

The  soil  and  climate  are  wrell  adapted  to  the  growing  of  timothy  and 
recltop,  but  neither  of  these  crops  should  be  grown  and  sold  from  the  farm 
as  hay,  except  at  very  high  prices,  sufficient  to  cover  the  cost  of  the  plant 
food  removed  and  leave  a  profit. 

The  following  rotations  are  suggested  for  consideration : 

THREE- YEAR  ROTATION. 

First  Year — Wheat,  followed  by  cow  peas  or  soy  beans  as  catch  crop. 

Second  Year — Corn,  with  cow  peas  or  soy  beans  as  catch  crop. 

Third  Year — Cow  peas  or  soy  beans  (to  be  followed  by  wheat). 

Every  three  years,  about  500  pounds  of  steamed  bone  meal  should  be 
applied  for  the  wheat  or  1,000  pounds  of  raw  rock  phosphate  may  be 
spread  on  the  catch  crop  after  wheat  (preferably  with  farm  manure) 
and  plowed  under  for  corn.  As  an  initial  application,  2  tons  of  ground 
limestone  should  be  applied  after  the  ground  is  plowed  for  corn,  further 
applications  to  be  applied  as  needed  to  keep  the  soil  sweet,  perhaps  1 


598  BULLETIN  No.  99. 

ton  every  six  years.  All  crops  except  the  wheat  should  be  fed  or  pastured 
or  used  as  bedding  and  all  manure  returned  to  the  land.  If  the  com  crop 
is  cut  and  shocked,  then  a  three-year  rotation  of  corn,  wheat,  and  clover 
is  a  good  one. 

FOUR- YEAR  ROTATION. 

First  Year — Corn,  with  cow  peas  or  soy  beans  as  catch  crop. 

Second  Year — Cow  peas  or  soy  beans. 

Third  Year — Wheat  (with  clover  to  be  seeded  in  spring). 

Fourth  Year— Clover. 

If  well  filled  the  second  crop  of  clover  should  be  harvested  for  seed. 
All  other  crops  excepting  wheat  and  possibly  cow  pea  or  soy  bean  seed 
should  be  fed  and  the  manure  returned  to  the  land,  preferably  mixed 
with  about  1,500  pounds  of  rock  phosphate  and  applied  to  the  clover  sod 
to  be  plowed  under  for  corn. 

FIVE-YEAR  ROTATION. 

This  may  be  the  same  as  the  four-year  rotation  except  that  timothy 
may  be  seeded  with  clover  and  the  land  pastured  the  fifth  year. 

Six- YEAR  ROTATION. 

This  may  be  the  same  as  above  except  that  the  land  is  pastured  for 
two  years.  In  this  case  some  alsike  should  be  seeded  with  the  red  clover 
and  timothy,  as  the  red  clover  is  only  a  two-year  plant  (biennial)  while 
alsike  is  a  short  perennial.  About  one  ton  per  acre  of  ground  rock  phos- 
phate should  be  applied  with  the  manure  to  the  pasture  land  to  be  plowed 
under  for  corn  every  six  years,  ground  limestone  to  be  applied  after  plow- 
ing as  indicated  above. 

Whatever  rotation  is  adopted,  there  should  be  as  many  fields  (of 
approximately  equal  size)  as  there  are  years  in  the  rotation,  so  that 
every  crop  can  be  grown  every  year.  Where  conditions  will  permit,  we 
prefer  the  five-year  or  six-year  rotation.  It  will  be  observed  that  a 
legume  crop  is  provided  for  every  year  in  every  rotation  suggested.  If 
the  cow  peas  or  soy  beans  are  cultivated  and  kept  clean,  the  wheat  may  be 
seeded  on  the  ground  without  plowing,  in  which  case,  the  land  is  plowed 
only  twice  in  four,  five,  or  six  years. 

While  cow  pea  seed  and  soy  bean  seed  are  valuable  to  sell  for  seed, 
they  also  have  a  very  high  feeding  value,  being  very  rich  in  protein  and 
well  suited  to  balance  the  carbohydrates  in  corn.  As  a  rule  the  soil 
should  be  inoculated  for  soy  beans.  (See  Bulletin  Xo.  94.) 

The  comparative  value  of  clover  can  be  easily  understood  from  the 
simple  fact  that  when  we  were  seeding  cow  peas  and  soy  beans  for  the 
1904  crop,  we  were  at  the  same  time  cutting  two  tons  per  acre  of  red 


1905.]    SOIL  TREATMENT  FOR  THE  LOWER  ILLINOIS  GLACIATION.        599 

clover  hay  as  the  first  crop  for  1904.  It  is  not  advised  to  discard  the  cow 
pea  and  soy  bean,  but  it  is  advised  to  include  clover  to  some  extent  at 
least  in  the  crop  rotation  for  the  Lower  Illinois  Glaciation ;  not  only  be- 
cause it  grows  from  early  spring  till  late  autumn,  and  lives  two  years  from 
one  seeding,  but  because  it  roots  deeply,  markedly  increases  the  power 
of  the  soil  to  absorb  and  retain  moisture,  obtains  and  liberates  plant  food 
present  in  the  soil  or  subsoil  or  supplied  in  low  grade  materials,  gathers 
nitrogen  from  the  air,  and  leaves  in  the  soil  a  large  amount  of  roots  rich 
in  plant  food  elements. 

NOTES. — Ground  limestone  can  be  obtained  from  the  Crystal  Carbonate  Lime 
Company,  Elsberry,  Mo.,  or  from  the  Mitchell  Lime  Company,  Mitchell,  Ind.,  for 
about  $2.50  a  ton,  delivered  in  Illinois  in  carload  lots,  on  direct  east  and  west  lines 
running  into  East  St.  Louis;  on  north  and  south  lines  it  may  cost  20  to  30  cents 
more.  Illinois  has  abundance  of  good  limestone,  especially  along  the  Mississippi 
and  in  the  Ozark  hills  in  the  southern  part  of  the  state,  and  it  is  hoped  that  grinding 
plants  will  soon  be  established  in  Illinois  so  that  ground  limestone  can  be  obtained 
more  cheaply.  It  ought  to  be  furnished  at  any  point  delivered  in  carload  lots  at  a 
total  cost  of  $2.00  a  ton  or  less. 

Finely  ground  raw  rock  phosphate  (12£  percent  phosphorus)  can  be  obtained 
from  Robin  Jones,  Nashville,  Tenn.,  or  from  the  N.  Y.  &  St.  L.  Mining  &  Mfg.  Co., 
St.  Louis,  Mo.,  for  about  $8.00  a  ton  delivered  in  southern  Illinois  in  carload  lots. 

A  good  grade  of  steamed  bone  meal  (about  12^  percent  phosphorus)  can  be 
obtained  delivered  in  southern  Illinois  for  about  $25.00  a  ton,  from  the  local  agents 
of  Armour  &  Company,  Morris  &  Company,  Swift  &  Company,  or  others,  of  the 
Union  Stock  Yards,  Chicago,  111.,  and  potassium  chlorid  (42  percent  potassium) 
can  also  be  obtained  from  Armour  &  Company,  for  about  $50.00  a  ton,  f.  o.  b.  cars 
Chicago. 

The  Experiment  Station  does  not  analyze  miscellaneous  samples  of  soil  or 
other  materials  for  private  parties.  For  methods  employed  in  the  investigation 
of  Illinois  soils,  see  Circular  No.  68,  or  Bulletin  No.  93,  pages  302-3. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS-URBANA 


